Bishonen Senshi Sailor Moon
by Ryo-Wolf
Summary: 10,000 years ago, Queen Serenity used the Ginzuishou to send the souls of the Senshi into the future to be reborn as normal girls. However, something went terribly wrong. For some reason, they were reborn as male martial artists instead.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma, though I'd figure that that's a given. I also don't own Sailor moon, though if you thought I did you have mental problems.

Author's Note: Yes, I know, yet another fanfiction. But I have an excuse, I swear. It seems I recently overcome my crippling writer's block, but it seems that along with it a slew of new ideas have come to me. And since I can't get these damn ideas out of my head without writing them, I'm putting it down so that I can clear my mind to update my other stories.

And yes, I'm aware that this is another 'Ranma is a sailor senshi' fic. But hopefully, I've put enough of a spin on it to make it slightly original.

One can hope, at least.

* * *

Screaming, shouting, yelling, growling. Metal hitting metal, fists hitting flesh, arrows striking scales. The sounds of battle floated across the castle grounds as the warriors continued to fight through the hordes of undead servants and various monsters, trying valiantly to get into the inner court yard of the castle itself.

"Don't falter men! We're almost at the gates!" A man shouted, appearing to be in his late teens. His armor glinted in the intense heat of the sun, sending a flash of light into a nearby goblin's eyes right before it was forced to allow 5 feet of cold steel to inhabit the same space as its vital organs. His face was rugged, appearing slightly unshaven while still retaining his boyish good looks, his perfect teeth glinting a bit as he smirked and removed his blade from the goblin corpse. His dark black hair hung from his head in a stylish pigtail and was covered by a light metallic helmet, proudly displaying his family's sacred crest. A Dragon coiled around an ornamental bastard sword displayed upon a fiery phoenix rising triumphantly towards the sky; it's lengthily tail feathers falling in front of the blade towards the bottom of the symbol. This symbol struck fear into man and beast alike, being well known to only mark the mightiest of warriors. And this man was one such warrior.

"Help me Ransuke!" The distinctly feminine voice easily carried across the castle grounds, immediately catching the attention of our brave hero, now identified as Ransuke. His smirk faltered and was replaced with an intense look of determination. He would not allow these vermin to stall him.

"I'm coming Akiko!" Ransuke cried out, Sheathing his treasured sword and punching a large Orc right between the eyes with his gauntlet covered fist. Even without the assistance of the unforgiving metal the blow would have been enough to knock the beast unconscious, with the metallic glove it was enough to cave his skull in, which is exactly what happened. The brutish monster fell backwards, crushing a lesser raptor under its girth as Ransuke leapt on its fallen form and used its belly as a spring board, launching himself over most of the monsters between him and the gates. The gates in question, however, would be harder to overcome. They rose a good 30 feet into the air, probably being made of wood thicker than Ransuke was tall. They were also bolted shut, chained down, and likely barricaded from the other side.

He didn't give a damn.

"Ancestors hear me..." Ransuke began, the air around him coming to a stop as his clothing and hair were blown in a non present wind. His words carried with an unnatural tenacity and seemed to echo from eternity itself, causing most of the fighting to temporarily pause in order to discover the cause of this disturbance. Ransuke was standing before the gates, his treasured blade in hand and being held in front of his face. His eyes were shut, and his body glowed a near perfect shade of blue, flowing off his body like smoke as he continued his chant.

"Grant me your power, bestow me with your might, lend me your strength, and give me your wrath!" These words also echoed off nothingness as they fell from the boy's tongue. The aura that surrounded him intensified and seemed to collect around his great blade, causing it to soon appear as a blade made of blue light. Ransuke's eyes flew open to show his intense determination, just as he rose the glowing sword above his head.

"Mystic Fury Strike!" The words struck fear into every creature within hearing distance as they all instinctively flinched, watching in abstract terror as Ransuke's blade fell with the furious power of the hundreds of warriors that came before him. A thunderous explosion of absolute agony sounded as the attack hit its mark, the very earth split in twine by its unrelenting power. Ransuke sheathed his smoking blade while breathing heavily, admiring his handiwork. The once mighty doors were reduced to kindling, having been hit with a power worthy of the gods themselves. The castle wall high above that once housed the doors was also split in half, while below his feet a mighty chasm had been carved into the earth by the blow. Ransuke merely walked around the great hole and into the main courtyard, looking about as the wind blew his pigtail to one side.

"So you have come, Ransuke, descendent of the mighty Emotoas clan, known for their inhuman power and unmatched skill in battle." Ransuke turned as he heard the unusual voice, sounding like a combination of a deep growl from an angry animal and a horse old man. The massive creature before him was an impressive sight to see, being nearly as tall as the gates had been while standing on its hind legs. Its dark red scales glinted slightly in the sunlight, appearing a slightly lighter hue than they actually were. The creature's teeth were easily as long as Ransuke's forearms, and from the looks of them easily capable of cutting him to pieces. If that wasn't bad enough, it had claws bigger than he was an a few horns that looked particularly nasty. There was also the blade at the end of its tail that could probably cleave a tree in two, but he preferred to not think about it.

"Alright dragon, you have my attention. What have you done with Princess Akiko?" Ransuke questioned with anger clear in his voice, barely containing his hatred for the monster before him. The dragon merely chuckled, appearing to sharpen its claws before opening its mouth to speak.

"Wake up! We're going to be late!" The words were incredibly feminine, especially for being spoken by a dragon. Before Ransuke could probably comprehend what had happened with the dragon's intimidating voice, he felt his body become cold and wet, and seconds later the world around him collapsed.

* * *

Bishonen Senshi Sailor Moon

Prologue

Moon Prism Power, Make Up?

* * *

"Damn it Akane, what'd you do that for?" Ranma shouted indignantly, being rather annoyed that she was currently wet and cold. Also female, that pissed her off as well.

"We're going to be late if you don't wake up and get ready, Ranma. Now hurry up!" With these words the Tendo girl departed, leaving Ranma to grumble and overcome her drowsiness to meet the day ahead of her.

"Stupid Akane...that was my favorite dream too..." Ranma grumbled, briefly thinking back to her adventures as Ransuke of the mighty Emotoas clan. She always found great enjoyment in the fantastical nature of the dreams, rather happy to play the role of the brave knight that saved the beautiful princess. Of course, she usually got woken up before she ever saw Princess Akiko, but she could only assume that the girl in question was beautiful. It was her dream, after all. She could look however Ranma wanted her to look.

"Ranma, breakfast!" Kasumi's voice easily carried up the stairs and into Ranma's room. There were few things that could get Ranma's mind off her fantasies, but one of those things happened to be food.

"Ooh, food. Coming, Kasumi!" Ranma was down the stairs as quickly as she could manage without going through walls that may have been in her way. She had only gone through the walls once, and that wasn't of her own free will either. Akane had decided to give Ranma the express lane to the breakfast table when she found shampoo in the pigtailed boy's bed a few weeks ago. Sure he was the first one to the table, but the added problem of regaining consciousness and overcoming his headache put him way behind his father in the eating contest they frequently held, thus Ranma got little to eat that morning. Ranma quickly sat in her place at the table, happily digging into the food Kasumi placed before her. Breakfast continued from there pretty quietly, which had to mean something was wrong.

'Why the hell would it be quiet?' Ranma wondered, looking around to take stock of the room around her.

'Pops trying and failing to steal my food, Check. Nabiki plotting to sell me to the highest bidder, check. Soun completely ignoring the situation at hand, check. Kasumi politely eating breakfast, check. Akane yelling at me for no good reason...' It took Ranma longer than it should have, but it seemed Akane wasn't yelling at him for no good reason. In fact, she wasn't even at the breakfast table.

"Hey, where's Akane?" The pigtailed girl asked, looking around the room in search of his fiancée. Nabiki smirked and set down her food for a second, eyeing Ranma with a calculative glance.

"Just now realized she wasn't here? Gee, you sure are observant Ranma." Nabiki mocked. It was something she did frequently. In fact, some would say it was her favorite pass time. There were few things she enjoyed more than making fun of Ranma. He was just such an easy target. It was like he was asking to be mocked.

"I was just wondering why I haven't gotten malleted yet. Usually she smashes me around by now. So where is she?" Ranma knew better than to get angry at Nabiki. She knew the older girl enjoyed tormenting her. She also knew the best way to piss Nabiki off was to not get pissed off herself.

"Akane left early. She said she wanted to get ready for a test today." Kasumi, being ever so helpful, answered. Ranma grumbled a bit to herself as Kasumi told her this information. It seemed Akane wanted to get to school early and thus skipped breakfast but she had time to wake him up with a bucket? How considerate of her.

"A test? I should probably be on my way to school then. Thanks for the food Kasumi!" Ranma finished her food as quickly as she could and ran out the door. She grabbed her book bag in passing and leapt into her shoes before running off at top speed towards Furinkan.

"Ranma? Wouldn't you like some hot water before you go?" Kasumi called out the door. Ranma just turned around while running, thus moving backwards to address Kasumi.

"I'll get some on the way, Kasumi!" With that, Ranma turned back around and changed direction down a side street. There was a mansion near by she figured she could pass through. It was in between her and Furinkan and it had a hot tub in the back yard, so she could change without having to stop. All it took was a few different turns that she didn't take all that often.

* * *

Luna was rather annoyed. This was nothing new, however. She had been annoyed all week. It wasn't the fact she had yet to find the princess that annoyed her. Well, that helped, but it wasn't the main reason. She wasn't all that annoyed that she couldn't find the Senshi. Actually, that was really annoying. It wasn't why she was annoyed though. Luna was annoyed, because some smart ass 12 year old thought it would be a great idea to duct tape a pair of toy horns to her head. The child then started making jokes about a horned demon cat and went on his way. This was the primary reason Luna was annoyed. It was bad enough that she now had a pair of very heavy chunks of plastic grafted to her head, it was also really annoying that to get them off she'd have to have most of the fur on her head removed when the tape comes off. The thing that pissed her off the most though was that the duct tape was covering up her moon mark, thus she couldn't sense anything for crap and was completely incapable of asking for help. Sometimes humans pissed her off. Luna walked along on top of a fence, trying to stay balanced with the great weight on her head. This turned out to be futile, as every time she lifted a leg she leaned heavily in that direction. Thus far she had been able to catch herself before she fell, but her luck was starting to run out. It was at that exact moment that a red haired girl decided to run across her fence like it wasn't defying gravity. Thus, the entire structure vibrated and she was completely incapable of keeping her footing. Luna fell from the fence like a stone, where her luck went from bad to Shitty. She just so happened to fall directly into the path of the girl who was making a habit of walking on walls. She also happened to impact the girl's back with her head. And this just happened to make the duct tape that was poorly applied to her to stick to the girl's shirt. Luna was officially duct taped to a girl's back, and from the way the girl was reacting to her presence, it was a girl who didn't care much for cats.

"C...C...Cat!" Ranma bellowed, noticing to her horror that a small furry demon from hell was clinging to her back. The evil monster even had horns! Ranma only had one option in this situation: Run like hell. And thus she did. She ran so fast that Luna felt like she was being dragged behind a car, and being dragged by your head is something that is hardly comfortable. Thus, as a reflex to ensure her continued survival, the small black cat flung her paws at the red haired girl and clung to her for dear life.

"AAAHH!" Ranma screamed. It was attacking her now! The horrible beast had already sunk its claws into her flesh and would probably start chewing at her at any moment. She needed to ditch it, and quick! It was at this time that Ranma realized that she was arriving at the mansion with the hot tub in back. Ranma knew better than anyone else that cats hated water, thus she made a beeline for the hot tub and leapt right for it once she reached it, hitting with a mighty splash. Luna didn't know what the hell was going on. One minute she was duct taped to the back of a red haired girl who was running at full tilt and the next she's drowning in boiling water. There was one great thing about really hot water though. Duct tape had a tendency to stop sticking when you got it wet. Ranma leapt out of the hot tub and kept running towards Furinkan, knowing from the weight on his back that the cat had not yet left him alone. Luna's claws were still firmly stuck into Ranma's flesh and she had no intention of letting go. She started shaking her head about, loosening the water logged duct tape as the weight of the horns soon caused it to slip off her head. Suddenly her senses exploded at her. She could sense moon kingdom magic, and a lot of it! She was hanging onto sailor moon! Of all the luck.

"Please stop running!" Luna cried out, hoping to get Ranma's attention. Something seemed different about the girl though. Her hair had changed color, she also seemed thicker.

"Ack, who said that?" That voice was distinctly male, which further confused Luna. She was certain that she was holding onto a girl when she was dunked in the water. And she was also certain that she had never let go during the dunking.

"Weren't you a girl before?" Luna asked, causing Ranma to turn his head and attempt to look at her. Of course, he was still running at full speed, and now he was no longer looking where he was going.

Smack!

Ranma ran straight into a wall. This was, of course, incredibly painful. The pigtailed boy slumped down the wall and collapsed to the floor, groaning in pain on his back.

"Are you alright?" Someone was asking him a question; someone was also licking his cheek. A very small someone, with a rough tongue.

"Ahhh! Cat!" Ranma screamed, planting his back against the wall he had just ran into in an attempt to get away from the small black creature.

"Please stop freaking out, I'm not going to hurt you." Luna had no experience with people who were afraid of cats, thus she had no idea what to do.

"Y...You can talk? Cats can't talk! Cats are evil little demons with claws and teeth and they try to eat me and they don't talk!" Ranma was starting to ramble, but he wasn't exactly in a healthy state of mind at the moment. Luna could see that this boy had the wrong ideas about cats, thus she felt it was her duty to show him the error of his ways and stand up for her people.

"I'm not like that. You said cats can't talk, but I do. You say that cats are demons that try to eat you and don't talk, but I can talk. And if I can talk, then I probably don't want to eat you either." Luna said, trying to reason with the boy before her. Ranma was starting to calm down, his breathing was slowing and his panic was starting to ease off.

"Cats are evil and can't talk, but you can talk..." He muttered to himself. The fear was starting to wear off, and his mind was just beginning to reboot and get back to normal thinking.

"So, that must mean, that you're not a cat!" Ranma added 2 with 2 and got 22, and Luna promptly face faulted. Ranma had found a loop hole to his fear and he was clinging it to dear life. Now that he had his mind made up, he wasn't going to let go of his assumption.

"That's...not what I was trying to..." Luna started, but trailed off. She figured she might as well humor the boy. Having him think she wasn't a cat was better than him freaking out and running away.

"My name is Ranma Saotome, by the way. What's yours?" Ranma felt the need to introduce himself to the small creature. He didn't know why, he just did. Luna blinked a few times and composed herself before looking Ranma in the eyes.

"I'm Luna, nice to meet you...wait a second, weren't you a girl a little while ago?" Luna asked, eying the boy suspiciously. Ranma just laughed and scratched the back of his head nervously in response.

"Oh, that. I've got this ancient Chinese curse. Every time I get splashed with cold water I turn into a girl, and hot water turns me back into a boy." Ranma explained and Luna just nodded. That explains a few things; it also made the fact that she was getting moon kingdom vibes from a boy a lot more understandable.

"I've got something for you, Ranma." Luna said, and then did a back flip and somehow made a small circular object materialize in the air. The metallic object clattered to the ground, causing Ranma to gaze at it with some curiosity. It was a small golden brooch with a sideways crescent moon in its center beneath a pink circle. Around the edges were four small colored circles: one red, one blue, one green and one gold.

"A brooch? Sorry, but I'm not really into brooches." Ranma said and leaned back against the wall. Luna grumbled a bit to herself, not expecting that reaction.

"Just put it on." The small cat said.

"It's a brooch. Brooches are for girls." Ranma shot back.

"You are a girl!" Luna responded, she was starting to get angry.

"I'm a guy! I'm not even in my girl form right now. I ain't putting on no brooch." Ranma was a bit annoyed that Luna thought he was a girl; he was also annoyed that she was insisting he put on some stupid brooch.

"Then wear it as a necklace!" Luna was getting very angry by this point, her eye was twitching and everything.

"Pssh! That'd be a pretty girly looking necklace." Ranma said indignantly, causing Luna to finally snap. She growled in anger and stood on the boys lap, setting her front paws against his neck and shoving her head in his face.

"Just put it on already! Or so help me Ranma I'll get all my cat friends to come here and eat you!" Ranma panicked and grabbed the brooch off the ground. He spotted a small leather strip sitting near a garbage can and grabbed it, slipping it through a small hole on the brooch and putting on his new necklace.

"There. That's better. Now then, as I was saying before..." Luna said, getting off Ranma and sitting in front of him. She raised one paw to her mouth and appeared to cough into it in a rather comical display before putting it back down and recalling the prepared speech she had ready.

"You are a chosen warrior, Ranma. There are weird things happening around Tokyo, enemies that the police can't fight. You have to fight these enemies. And your other mission is to find our princess and the other warriors like you." Ranma looked at the small moon cat as if the creature before him was insane. He wasn't sure what else to do.

"So you want me to fight monsters and find a princess?" Ranma asked sarcastically, causing Luna to grumble to herself again.

"Just do me a favor and say 'moon prism power make up,' okay?" The cat muttered as Ranma just blinked.

"Moon prism power, make up? What kinda..." Ranma was cut off as the brooch turned pendant started to glow. He jumped to his feet and gasped in shock as his body was engulfed in a rainbow light. He could feel his body rising into the air and spinning about as thin strings of energy poured out of the pendant that was floating beside him. The energy pierced his body, seeming to wrap around him as his clothes vanished and his masculine body started to become feminine. Soon he was in his girl form once more and the pendant attached itself to his chest as she finally stopped spinning around. Red ribbons of an unknown fabric shot out of the metallic surface of the pendant and wrapped around her torso. With a flash of light it turned into a white leotard with a red bow above her breasts and a sailor fuku flap going from the collar and down her back. More ribbons appeared and wrapped around her hands and legs, becoming white gloves and knee length boots respectively. A skirt manifested around her waist with another red bow tied at her back. A jewel appeared on her forehead and glowed briefly before a tiara grew out of it and clung to her head. A pair of earrings appeared in her ears and a red hair ornament blinked into existence near the base of her pigtail. With this the transformation was completed and Ranma's feet found themselves on the ground once more, the rainbow light that surrounded her vanishing. The entire transformation took about a full minute, and Ranma was left staring at her current state of dress with a look of shock and horror.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me." The red head mumbled, feeling the use of profanity to be perfectly acceptable with his current predicament. This was an outfit not even Happosai was perverted enough to come up with.

"Ranma, you have become Sailor Moon. With your new disguise you can fight these new enemies in the name of love and justice!" Luna announced as Ranma was still looking down at the horrible get up she was in.

"You don't actually expect me to go out into public dressed like this, do you? I'll be the laughing stock of the town! Ryoga would never let me live it down, and Akane would pound me into the street for being a pervert." Ranma muttered. She was still wondering what happened to her normal clothes.

"Don't worry, no one should be able to recognize you as long as you are transformed." Luna said, causing Ranma to briefly sigh in relief.

"That's good to know. You can tell me how to change back now." Ranma said with an annoyed tone. She had just about enough of her uniform. It hugged her in all the places she did not want to be hugged.

"Just concentrate on changing back and you should de-transform." The black cat said. Ranma nodded and closed her eyes to concentrate. Suddenly her fuku reverted back into ribbons and disappeared, being replaced by Ranma's usual clothing. Unfortunately, the change did not put Ranma back into his male form.

"Ah crap, now I have to change back again." The red head grumbled. However, the sound of the school bell ringing in the distance stopped her from heading back to the mansion.

"Crap, I'm gonna be late!" Ranma shouted and started to run off. Luna briefly realized that she was going to get left behind and immediately set off after the red head. She managed to catch up as Ranma turned a corner and quickly leapt onto her head, holding on for dear life as Ranma just ignored her presence and kept running.

* * *

Ranma walked into class, once again male. He had managed to get some hot water from the bathroom on his way in and was happy that he wasn't stuck as a girl or anything. As the pigtailed boy made his way to his seat, he noticed that everyone's eyes were on him. He wasn't sure why. He's late all the time, so what were they staring at?

"What are you guys staring at?" Ranma asked, seeing a few people try to compose themselves as the rest just looked at him slack jawed.

"Ranma...are...are you feeling ok?" Akane asked, sounding a bit nervous. She was looking at him like a dear caught in headlights and she seemed to be sweating a bit.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" Ranma looked around the room at everyone who was staring at him in shock. Even Miss Hinako seemed frozen in place. Ranma looked down at his chest, missing the flinch that seemed to pass through the class as he looked at the brooch he had turned into a pendant.

"What, this? Its just some necklace I got. Big deal." He looked back up and noticed that everyone seemed to be standing further back than they were before. Ranma was getting close to losing it and stood up, slapping his hands against his desk.

"What's the problem!" He shouted. Finally someone spoke up, it was one of the boy's whose name he never bothered to learn.

"Your...your head..." He said, pointing at Ranma's head. Ranma just looked at the boy confused.

"What about my head?" The pigtailed boy asked.

"Ranma, There's a cat on your head!" Ukyo finally blurted it out and Ranma's face turned pale. Everyone in the room promptly took cover as Ranma reached up and felt his head, feeling his fingers touching fur. He picked up the creature off his head and held it in front of his face, getting a good look at Luna as she stared back at him with a nervous grin. Ranma merely put Luna back on his head and sat down, seeming to calm down.

"Nah, this ain't a cat. This is Luna." Ranma responded. Everyone face faulted, not expecting that response.

"Ranma, that's a cat on your head. It's a cat." Akane was excellent at stating the obvious, it seemed.

"Luna ain't a cat I told you! So just drop it already." With that, Ranma turned his attention towards Hinako with full intent for her to start teaching. Thus, everyone returned to their seats and things went back to normal. Well, semi normal at least.

'I think Ranma has finally lost it...' Akane thought, sending a glance Ranma's way worriedly. The cat was still lying on his head and he seemed to not care at all. It was just weird.

* * *

Somewhere on the other side of the world, hidden deep within a cavern in the earth, sat a woman in a long gown. Her red hair fell freely from her head and down her back. Her eyes, which were an unusual yellow and red in color, stared almost lifelessly out at the dark mass of monsters that stood before her. Her hands were held out in front of her face, waving pointlessly in the air around a blank crystal ball that floated there. She also seemed to have a boomerang attached to her head. Why? Who cares, she's weird.

"Have you found the legendary silver crystal yet?" The woman asked, still waving her hands around like an idiot.

"No." The words echoed from the army before her as every last monster within it answered in an equally bored unison. It seemed every last one of them was totally uninterested in the crazy woman that sat in front of them.

"Our ruler requires energy. If you cannot find the silver crystal, then let us give our ruler human energy." The woman spoke once more, her hands still waving around without reason. A blue orb of fire suddenly appeared before her and increased in size to show a blonde haired man within it.

"Queen Beryl. Will you leave that duty to me?" He made his request with a small bow, wanting to show respect to the mad woman. Sure she was crazy, but she was still capable of killing the whole lot of them. And she didn't even have to stop waving her hands around to do it.

"I will leave it to you, Jadeite." It seemed the queen wasn't all that interested in the matter. Either that or she always spoke in a monotone. Wait, she does always speak in a monotone. Jadeite nodded at his queen and then left in a showy fireball, much like the way he entered. He needed to get into position, after all.

* * *

About a week passed and thus far there had been no incidents that required Sailor Moon's interference. Ranma had all but forgotten about the transformation as the days passed. And if it wasn't for the pendant Luna insisted he wear or the fact that Luna slept on his head or shoulder all day, Ranma would have forgotten. At the moment, Ranma was in the dojo doing one handed pushups. Luna was kind enough to lay on his head as he did so to add weight to his exercise. Every now and again she'd jump off and leave the dojo, coming back with a rock and putting it on Ranma's back before getting back on his head.

"Luna...do you have to...keep doing that...?" Ranma asked through a grunt. He was sweating profusely as he continued his up and down motion on one arm. He had a stack of about 30 rocks on his back and a rather lazy black cat on his head.

"Well I would use Akane's cinderblocks, but they are so hard to move when you don't have hands." Was the cat's reply. Ranma just grunted in response as he continued his exercise, counting silently to himself. He was nearing 495 when Kasumi walked in.

"Ranma? Akane and her friends went to get some ice cream at a new shop that opened a few days ago." Kasumi muttered, looking on with mild interest at the scene before her. It always was nice to see Ranma exercise, but even she was a little nervous about Ranma's proximity to a cat.

"Yeah, what about it Kasumi?" Ranma had to grunt to get the words out as he continued to exert his muscles. He turned his head towards the door and noticed a concerned look on Kasumi's face, causing him to pause his pushups.

"Well, that was hours ago, and she still hasn't come back yet. I'm getting worried. Could you go check on her?" The sound of rocks clattering to the ground echoed around the empty dojo as Ranma got to his feet. Luna almost instinctively shifted her weight in order to stay on the boy's head as he moved towards the door.

"Sure Kasumi. I'll go check on her right now." Ranma muttered as he left. Within seconds of stepping out of the dojo he was in the air and hopping from roof to roof. He had heard Akane talking about the ice cream shop earlier in the day, so he was pretty sure he knew where it was.

"I've got a bad feeling about this Ranma." Luna muttered from atop his head. She got bad feelings about a lot of stuff. A few days ago she said she had a bad feeling about the peanut butter and jelly sandwich he was trying to feed her. Of course, Akane had made it, so that was probably why. Plus it smelt like garlic and was dripping some kind of fluid.

"It's probably nothing. She just lost track of time and is talking about a bunch of girly stuff like girls do. No big deal." Ranma said back. Truth be told he was a little worried too, but he wasn't gonna admit to it. A few moments later Ranma reached the ice cream parlor and made his descent, landing just in front of the door. He turned and looked in the door to see a strange woman laughing to herself as she stood over the collapsed bodies of the patrons. In the far corner, Ranma could see Akane's unconscious body lying on the floor.

"Ranma, she's a youma! Quick, change into Sailor Moon!" Luna whispered from his shoulder. It seemed she had moved at some point during the run here. Ranma was about to scoff and make a snide remark about the uniform and how he didn't need to transform to beat some woman, but Luna stopped any argument by placing her claws directly in Ranma's face and waving them threateningly.

"Just do it!" She hissed, and Ranma just nodded his head nervously.

"Moon prism power, Makeup!" The words echoed mysteriously as Ranma was enveloped in his transformation, quickly becoming a girl and getting clothed in her uniform in a minute long transformation sequence. When she was finished, Sailor moon stood in the doorway of the ice cream parlor in all her glory, staring down the confused Youma that stood there.

"Who are you?" The youma muttered, her body shifting from human looking to monstrous.

"Tell her you're sailor moon!" Ranma hear Luna whisper the words from behind the doorway and nodded before pointing to her self.

"I'm sailor moon! And if you don't tell me what you've done to all these people, I'm gonna be forced to kick your ass!" Ranma shouted, causing the Youma to laugh maniacally to itself.

"Foolish human! I have stolen their life energy as an offering to my master. You've seen too much, I guess I'll have to kill you!" With that the monster lunged, her hands turning into claws as she intended to slash Ranma in two. Ranma simply leapt over the monster's head, grabbing the creature's arm as she went with the intent to get her in an arm lock. Instead, the arm broke off like a petrified tree limb. Needless to say, Ranma was a bit surprised.

"You little bitch! You'll pay for that!" The creature screeched, growing a new arm and pouncing at Ranma again. A quick four hit combo to the monster's mid section tore it in half as its legs and upper body clattered to the ground in two different places. Ranma just stared at it dumbly.

"Jeez, you sure are brittle as hell." Ranma didn't know what else to say. She had never fought an opponent that broke so easily before. The youma yowled in anger and put herself back together before getting to her feet.

"Sailor Moon, your attacks have no effect on it! You need to use magic, hit her with your Tiara! Moon tiara action!" Luna's words caused Ranma to shrug in indifference as she pulled her tiara off her head. The small metal accessory suddenly transformed into a discus of light, much to Ranma's surprise.

"Die!" The youma screamed, once again attacking. Ranma couldn't help but sigh in annoyance at the futility of the creature. It really was stupid.

"Moon tiara action!" Ranma shouted the words like any other attack name and hurled the discus like a shuriken. It tore through the air and the Youma with equal ease, except the youma disintegrated when it got hit. The discus circled around and Ranma caught it in mid air before putting the tiara back on her head. She looked down at the pile of sand that used to be a monster in curiosity, just as everyone began to come to.

"Well that was unusually simple." Ranma muttered as she looked about. She noticed that everyone was coming to and figured it was best for her to leave. After all, she would die of embarrassment if anyone saw her in that stupid fuku.

* * *

"Kasumi, we're back!" Ranma called out upon entering the house. He had managed to change back into a male shortly after changing out of his sailor moon outfit and had gone back into the ice cream shop. He feigned ignorance to everything that happened and had managed to get Akane up and moving and out the door. Unfortunately, she wouldn't shut up about Sailor moon. Apparently Akane had been more coherent during the fight than Ranma had thought.

"Come on, Ranma! You must have seen her! She was so heroic and amazing! And she was so skilled too, she could probably even give you a run for your money! Oh I wish I could meet her in person." It was just as Ranma had feared, apparently his fiancée was his number one fan. Of all the luck.

"Oh hello Akane, did you have fun with your friends?" Kasumi's voice echoed easily to Ranma's ears as he walked up the stairs. The sound of Akane ranting about her new hero also easily traveled up the stairs to him, much to his annoyance.

"Damn it, Luna. I'm not sure what I would prefer. Akane beating me up for dressing like that or kissing the ground I walk on as if I'm some kind of role model." Ranma grumbled, causing the cat on his head to chuckle to herself at his dilemma.

"Don't worry Ranma. She'll get over it. She might even become a fan of one of the other Senshi once we find them." Luna sounded reassuring as she said it, but in reality she was trying to trick him into actually searching for the other Senshi. She had a sneaking suspicion that he wouldn't give a damn otherwise.

"Yeah, maybe. We should find them as soon as possible then. They've got to be around here somewhere, right?" Ranma said a bit hopefully. However, he had a foreboding feeling that the other Senshi were a lot closer than he thought. Why did he get the feeling he wasn't going to like who they turned out to be?

* * *

To Be Continued… eventually…

(Author's Notes)

As I said before, I'm aware I have too many fics as it is. But hey, I couldn't get this idea out of my head. Now that I wrote it, I'll be able to concentrate on updating something. Anything. I'll update my fics eventually, just have some patience. It's not like I'm the slowest updater in the world. I mean, look at Carrotglace. When was the last time he updated something?

Next time: Jadeite figures it's a good idea to sell Compasses that steal life energy. But when the only person that actually buys one is Ryoga, his plan kinda fails miserably. Now Ranma and Akane are lost in a horrible trap with Ryoga and a Youma. How are they going to get out? Can Ranma fight a monster and a mind-controlled Ryoga? How can he transform without Akane finding out? You'll just have to wait for the next chapter of Bishonen Senshi Sailor Moon: The Power of Mercury.

Ryo-Wolf


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma, though I'd figure that that's a given. I also don't own Sailor moon, though if you thought I did you have mental problems.

Author's Notes: I've always been one to respond to reviewer comments, so I'll take this time to do so. Skip ahead if you don't care.

Glazedlookineyes101: Ranma accepted Luna because he firmly believes that she's not a cat. He isn't exactly in a stable mindset because of the neko-ken, so when he found a loophole he clung to it as well as he could. He refuses to listen to reason about Luna, even if it's from himself. Also, he doesn't actually look at Luna all that much. She spends most of her time sitting on top of his head. As for the Fuku, I thought I made his disgust for it clear, but I guess I should have been a little more extreme about it. I'm not sure what you refer to by moon magic, but no. Ranma will not be permentantly a girl.

The Nameless Author: I know what Bishonen means, and it was intentional. Sailor Moon's full title is Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon. I have named this fic Bishonen Senshi Sailor Moon because the Sailor Senshi are not pretty girls, they are in fact pretty boys. Every Senshi is going to be a man. I had tried to keep this semi secret, but since Athenais figured it out moments after the story was released, there is little point to keep it up.

And now, on with the fic.

* * *

Fire raged within the court yard as Ransuke leapt about, trying to avoid the flames. He leapt away from a cart full of hey just as a fire ball struck it, causing it to explode rather violently below him. Ransuke was already airborne and was on a one way trip towards the other side of the courtyard, thus he was completely helpless to the dragon tail that was coming at him with great speed. All he could do was raise his sword to block the bladed tip of the deadly weapon, but this did nothing to stop his body from slamming into the ground. Seconds after he struck the dragon's mighty foot slammed on top of him, pinning him to the ground.

"Ha ha ha! What will you do now, Ransuke of the Emotoas clan? Do you really think you can defeat me?" The dragon laughed at him from where he stood, reveling in his victory. It was a rare treat to be able to kill a member of the Emotoas clan. He would become a hero amongst dragons for his victory over the foolish human. Ransuke grunted in pain from his position under the dragon, trying and failing to reach his sword from beneath the heavy claw that pinned him. He couldn't perform the Mystic Fury Strike without his sword...

"But I still have one more option. Prepare to die, Dragon. Moon prism power, make up!" In an instant Ransuke was a female in a fuku, still pinned under the claw, but not for long. She grabbed her tiara off her head and flung it skyward, striking the dragon in the neck and carving its head clean off.

"AAAHHHH!" Ranma awoke in a cold sweat, sitting up quickly and flinging Luna across the room from the quick movement.

"Damn it. My dreams have forever been ruined..." He muttered, a groan escaping his throat as he lay back down to return to sleep.

"I was trying to sleep you know. Don't move around so much." Luna grumbled. She was too tired to argue though, so instead she just returned to her position on Ranma's stomach and went to sleep.

* * *

Bishonen Senshi Sailor Moon

Chapter 1

The Power of Mercury

* * *

"Jadeite, where is the human energy you promised me?" Queen Beryl asked in her usual monotonous voice, sounding both bored and annoying at the same time. She sat upo her throne, waving her hands in front of a blank crystal ball as she was wont to do. No one was sure why she did it, but no one dared to ask her.

"My collection attempts hit a slight snag, my queen. But not to worry, I have come up with a new plan." Jadeite bowed deeply and waited for his queen's reaction. Of course, it was hard to tell whether she was happy, sad, or angry. She didn't show much emotion.

"Alright then. Go, Jadeite. Our leader waits for human energy."

"Yes, my lady."

* * *

A week passed with very few problems arising. Mostly Luna just had Ranma running out to fight petty criminals who she got a bad feeling from. Ranma, of course, protested every step of the way. It was bad enough that his new pet forced him to wear his idiotic uniform when fighting monsters, but he downright refused to wear it around humans. Thus Ranma had taken to caring a change of clothes with him whenever he left the house. That way when he transformed, he'd just put on his normal clothes over the god forsaken fuku. Luna wasn't very happy about this.

"What's your problem, Luna?" Ranma was in mid jump, going from roof top to roof top on his way back to the Dojo. He had already changed out of his extra clothes and sailor fuku and had found some hot water to change back into a man before he went on his way. Luna had been complaining about something or other from on top his head for at least a half an hour now. He hadn't been paying attention to what it was, but he figured now was a good time to find out.

"You can't just transform and put on different clothes, Ranma! That defeats the purpose of transforming at all. You don't even use your magic attacks on those crooks." The cat complained. She had gotten used to sitting on top of the boy's head regardless of what position he happened to be in. Whether he was walking down the street or running by at break neck speeds. She personally liked her perch. Not only was it fairly comfortable, but it was one place where Ranma couldn't see her, just in case he regressed into his fears.

"That's cause I don't need that fancy magic attack against those guys. Hell, I wouldn't even need them against the monsters if they didn't grow back when I punched them. And I don't care what you say about wearing clothes over the costume. If you wanted me to run around in that thing you should have made it less horrifying. It's bad enough I have to wear it underneath other clothes." Ranma was downright disgusted by the fuku. Sure he had worn leotards before. He had to wear one to fight Kodachi. But the short skirt and the ribbons just crossed the line in his book.

"It's not like I designed the thing." Luna muttered indignantly. She stopped her train of thought when she noticed something was off. She could feel a very unusual energy in the air.

"Ranma, I'm sensing some strange energy nearby." Ranma knew better than to ignore Luna when she started sensing stuff. For two reasons, actually. For one, she tended to be right. Hell, after Ranma fed her the PB&J of Torment™ she was able to sense Akane's cooking coming from a mile away. Thanks to her, Ranma had been able to avoid the toxic death ever since. The other reason Ranma knew better was because Luna would threaten to eat him if he didn't. And for some reason Ranma couldn't quite understand, he was terrified of Luna.

"Where on earth am I now?" Those were words that Ranma knew well. He also knew that at any second the person who shouted those words would be damning his name.

"Ranma, this is all your fault!" Right on cue. That train is never late, it seems. Ryoga Hibiki was not very happy at the moment. Sure, he had a bad tendency to never be happy, but right now he was especially unhappy. The reason being rather simple: He had no idea where he was supposed to meet Akari for their date. He had a vague idea that it was supposed to be near his mailbox, but that damn thing tended to move around a lot.

"Yo, Ryoga. What's the problem? Lost again?" Ranma landed directly in front of Ryoga as he said this, a smirk on his face as he tried to goad Ryoga into a fight. Ryoga just growled at him before his eyes trailed up a bit, spotting Luna on Ranma's head with a bit of confusion.

"Nice pet. Didn't think you'd be the type to get one." Ryoga said simply. Luna was staring at him in a rather creepy fashion, so he didn't exactly what to stick around her that much.

"Oh, her? She's Luna. So seriously, what's the problem?" Ryoga sighed at Ranma's question, scratching the back of his head as he tried to think of a way to make this sound less embarrassing than it was.

"I don't know where Akari wanted to meet me..." He grumbled under his breath. Ranma leaned in and smirked at Ryoga, causing the lost boy to growl again.

"So you are lost, then? Why don't you just buy a compass for once, Ryoga?" Ranma said this while looking passed the lost boy. His eyes fell on a strange building that stood directly behind Ryoga. Ranma was fairly certain that the shop had not been there before. After all, who's ever heard of a shop specializing in selling compasses?

"Where the hell am I supposed to get a compass?" Ryoga growled. All Ranma did in response was point behind him, causing Ryoga to turn his head towards the building with the big "Compasses R Us" sign.

"Oh."

* * *

Bam was not happy. Nope, not happy at all. Lord Jadeite had put all his faith in her to collect human energy with her life stealing compasses and yet she had not managed to sell a single one. Apparently humans were very uninterested in finding out which direction was north.

'Maybe I should have sold watches instead. Humans seem to think that digital watches are pretty cool.' She thought idly to herself, tapping her fingers against the glass case in front of her in utter boredom. Just as she was about to give up hope and return to Lord Jadeite with her tail between her legs, the first human she had seen all week strolled into the store.

"Uh, do you have a compass I can have?" Ryoga had barely managed to get the words out of his mouth when the woman behind the counter was suddenly standing directly in front of him. She started unloading compasses on him far faster than he could see.

"Yes of course I do I have more compasses than you'll ever need here take them all their free!" Bam shouted at high speed, throwing more and more compasses at Ryoga. If she was only getting one customer, she was going to suck him dry.

"Damn it, I only need one!" Ryoga shouted, holding the giant pile of compasses in his arms. For some reason his muscles failed him, something that had never happened to Ryoga in his entire life. In an instant he was on the ground, buried under a pile of compasses as he struggled to move.

"What's...going on?" He grunted, struggling to get up. His muscles felt like putty and his limbs completely failed to obey his commands. He felt like all his energy was being stripped from him.

"Ha ha ha! Foolish human, my compasses will soon strip all your energy away. Then you'll just be my loyal puppet." Bam said in her demonic voice, her appearance changing to that of her true Youma form. Ryoga saw the change and grunted in pain as he tried to raise his hands, cupping them in front of his face.

"Loyal puppet? I don't think so. Shishi Hokodan!" Bam flinched back as she saw the energy blast rocket towards her. However, her look of fear turned into a smirk as the Shishi Hokodan was stripped away, being sucked into the compasses before it even had a chance to reach her.

"D...Damn it." Ryoga muttered, and then promptly passed out.

* * *

The next day soon came as it tended to do and Ranma and Akane found themselves walking to school. For once they had both gotten up and a decent hour, thus they were not running at full speed to reach campus on time.

"Do you really have to bring your cat everywhere you go, Ranma?" Akane really didn't like Luna. Ranma and cats just didn't mix, and the last things she wanted was Ranma running around in neko-ken mode kissing people. Besides, it was embarrassing to walk around with someone who wore a cat like it was a hat.

"How many times do I have to tell ya that Luna ain't a cat? Jeez, you sure can be dense sometimes Akane. Besides, it ain't my fault she likes to sleep on my head." Ranma was a little interested in that fact himself though. Why did she always sleep on his head? He'd have to ask her later.

"Dense! Who are you calling dense? Alright Ranma, if Luna isn't a cat then what is she?" Ranma stopped moving as his brain struggled with this logical question. Over and over again it pounded at his loophole, struggling to break what his unstable mind created. However, Ranma wasn't nearly intelligent enough to make the logical conclusion that Luna must be a cat, so instead he simply named the first animal that came to mind.

"She's a squirrel." Akane and Luna both face faulted. Luna even went so far as to fall off Ranma's head to do so. Within Ranma's head another addition was added to Ranma's brain. This being the simple equation of 'Luna minus cat equals squirrel.'

"A squirrel! You've got to be kidding me!" Akane couldn't believe how stupid her fiancé was being. She was fairly certain he was just making fun of her with all this squirrel business. In fact, the only reason she hadn't hit him with her hammer yet was because she didn't want to squish Luna to Ranma's skull. Akane looked up through barely controlled rage, hoping to hold back her desire to brain Ranma for the cat's sake when she saw his attention was currently elsewhere. Specifically, it was drawn to Ryoga, who appeared to be shoving a compass down someone's throat.

"Hey Ryoga, Knock it off!" Ranma shouted, running towards Ryoga. Luna jumped off his head the second he started running, having no intention to get caught in the middle of a fight.

"Hey Ranma. Want a compass?" Ryoga said with an evil smirk on his face. He was wearing compasses in a bandoleer across his chest and had a slight green tint to his skin. Ranma was fairly certain that something was horribly wrong with Ryoga at the moment, but he wasn't entirely sure what.

"What the hell do I need a compass for, Ryoga?" Ranma shot back. He looked to his side and noticed that the boy Ryoga had forced a compass on was lying unconscious on his back. He also noticed that the compass was tearing the chi right out of his body.

'It's like some kinda Happo Fifty Yen Satsu. What would Ryoga be doing with compasses like that?' Ranma thought to himself, turning towards Ryoga just in time to dodge a compass that was hurled at him.

"Come on, Ranma! You know you want one!" Ryoga grinned as he said this, throwing another compass that Ranma bent over backwards to dodge. The pigtailed boy went into a handspring and landed a few meters back, looking at Ryoga with an intense gaze.

'It's just like the ice cream parlor, that monster stole everyone's chi too. He must be possessed by something.' Ranma thought, eyeing the compasses on Ryoga's chest. That meant a Mouku Takabisha was out of the question. The compasses would just drain it all without touching Ryoga.

'But if I try to hit him, those compasses will drain my fighting aura dry when I get up to him. Mouku Takabisha won't work; fighting him head on won't work either.' Ranma hadn't moved from his position as Ryoga stood in a ready stance. It seemed the lost boy's patience reached its limit as he growled and cupped his hands.

"You don't want to start this fight, then I will. Shishi Hokudan!" Ryoga fired his chi blast at Ranma with full intent to blow him away. Unfortunately, it didn't even travel a full foot before it was sucked into the compasses on his chest.

'And that means a Hiryuu Shoten Ha won't work either, those compasses will steal his hot aura before I can do squat. Looks like I only got one option left...' Ranma stood and took on a stance.

"Face the opponent and...Fast Break!" With that, Ranma bolted off in the opposite direction. He didn't want to run from a fight with Ryoga, but getting his aura drained by evil compasses didn't seem like a pleasant idea. Besides, he was fairly certain he knew where those compasses came from. He was going to attack the problem at the source. Luna and Akane just stared at Ranma's retreating form dumbly while Ryoga just growled and gave chase. Shortly after, Luna followed as well.

'What's going on here!' Akane thought to herself. She was pretty confused about the whole thing, and she was positive Ranma wouldn't run from a fight with Ryoga without good cause. So with nothing else to do, Akane decided to follow Ranma's cat. At the very least Akane wasn't going to let the thing get lost.

* * *

Ranma arrived at the Compasses R Us fairly quickly and looked through the windows. He couldn't see anything inside, and for some reason the doors were locked.

"Screw the locks." He muttered to himself and promptly kicked the door in, sending glass and metal flying about inside the building. Ranma took two complete steps before he was hit from behind and hurled into a display case, shattering it and its contents in the process.

"Did you think I'd let you run away, Ranma?" Ryoga growled out and cracked his knuckles. He didn't even wait for Ranma to get out of the display case before leaping into a jump kick aimed for the boy's face. Ranma got up and leapt away from Ryoga's attack, hitting the wall and jumping again to dodge the follow up punch that turned the wall to rubble.

"Bakusai Tenketsu!" Ranma had barely landed when Ryoga rushed forward with his finger aimed at the ground. Another leap put Ranma directly behind Ryoga's back, intent on removing the bandoleer of compasses from Ryoga. However he was expecting to find stable ground beneath his feet, not a hole in the floor created by the Bakusai Tenketsu. Thus, both Ranma and Ryoga plummeted into the basement below, exchanging blows on the way down. Shortly after their fall, Luna rushed into the building with Akane a few steps behind her. Both managed to take three steps into the building before a trap door opened beneath them, sending both down into the basement as well.

* * *

A quick kick to the chest sent Ryoga stumbling backwards as Ranma moved back to gain some breathing room. Of course, the kick also caused Ranma to favor that leg, since his chi had been forcefully ripped through it when he kicked Ryoga.

'Just as I thought, those compasses will drain me if I get too close to him. I've got to get that bandoleer off of him before I can kick his ass.' Ranma thought, glad that feeling was returning to his leg as he stood normally. He glanced around at the so-called 'basement' they were now in, noticing that it looked more like something out of a cheesy sci-fi movie. The walls, floor and roof were all made out of a weird blue energy and there were compass needles floating around all over the place. There were also a giant N, S, W and E floating around with doors underneath the letters in question. It looked exceptionally stupid.

'I could probably cut the bandoleer with the Tiara, but that would mean I'd have to transform. And I really don't want to have to transform.' Ranma thought, glancing at Ryoga and then glancing at the doors.

'Screw it. I'll just find the stupid monster. I don't need to transform.' With these thoughts in mind, Ranma immediately ran for the east door. Before Ryoga even had a chance to stop him he was on the other side, in a room identical to the one he had just been in. The only difference was that he had just stepped out of the South door. Also, Luna was standing in the middle of the room looking very confused.

"Luna? What the heck are you doing here?" The small cat turned towards Ranma and then immediately ran at him, tackling the boy to the floor and standing on his chest.

"Ranma! I'm glad you're here. Quick, transform already! There is evil energy all over this place." Luna looked about as she said this, trying to pinpoint the source of all the energy. They needed to beat that Youma and get going.

"I don't need that stupid transformation! Besides, I don't even have my spare clothes with me. I can't cover up that fuku if I change." This response was met with three claws and a pair of fangs being shoved directly into Ranma's face. He was literally centimeters from Luna's sharp and pointy parts.

"Just...do it..." Luna growled the words out as threateningly as she could, happy to see that Ranma was nodding furiously in response. Thus he quickly stood up and coughed into his hand, preparing his transformation.

"Moon Prism power..." Just then, Akane walked into the room, causing Ranma to pause as the words simply failed to come out of his mouth.

"What the hell is Akane doing here!" Ranma whispered the words as loudly as he could to Luna before making a run for one of the doors. West, to be exact. Akane, who was standing at East, noticed the movement and recognized Ranma immediately.

"Ranma! Where are you going? Wait for me!" Akane's words fell on deaf ears as Ranma just kept running. Actually, they fell on ears that didn't care to listen, because Ranma needed to change and there was no way in hell he was doing it anywhere near Akane. However, Luna was in agreement with him when it came to transforming in private, thus she ran with Ranma as the two quickly went through the west door and slammed it closed behind them.

"Transform now, before she gets here!" Luna shouted, propping herself against the door to keep it closed.

"Moon prism power, Make up!" Ranma nodded and said the words, the brooch glowing from underneath his shirt as his transformation commenced. A full minute later he was a female in a fuku, both of which annoyed her immensely.

"Damn it Ranma, don't try to block the door!" Akane screamed from the other side of the door, forcing it open and slamming Luna into the wall. However, instead of Ranma she only found Sailor Moon, who was staring at her in utter horror.

"You're...Sailor moon!" Ranma couldn't move. Her legs refused to let her as she could only stare at Akane in shock.

'She figured it out? I'm screwed! She's gonna kill me!' Ranma thought, watching as Akane's face went from surprised to happy.

"Oh I'm you're biggest fan! Though I'm probably you're only fan. I don't think anyone knows who you are yet. Oh could you show me some of those cool moves? You're so skilled. Wait until Ranma hears about this!" Akane was blabbering on at a mile a minute, leaving Ranma horribly confused.

"Can I have your autograph?" Akane produced a pen and a piece of paper from her book bag and thrust them into Ranma's face. Ranma, not knowing what else to do, took the pen and wrote Sailor Moon on the piece of paper as best as she could.

"Uh, here you go. Now run along, it's very dangerous here you know. Shouldn't you be in school? Good bye." Ranma handed the paper back to Akane and then escorted her out the door she came in through, slamming the door shut behind her. Luna groaned in pain and slumped to the ground once the door was no longer holding her to the wall. She had a pretty good idea what a pancake must feel like.

"Hey, who are you?" Ranma turned when she heard Ryoga's voice, spotting the lost boy walking out of the South door and into the room they were in. He seemed a bit distracted by her presence, and thus didn't immediately attack.

"Sailor moon, strike the compasses! The compasses are controlling him!" Luna whispered. Ranma wasted no time taking her Tiara off and hurling it at the lost boy, glad that he was too distracted at the moment to do anything about it. The discus of light flew on a very tight arc and easily sliced through the straps that were holding the compasses to his body before turning around and heading back to Ranma. The second Ryoga saw this attack he was off, heading right for Ranma with intent to kill.

"Hey, I thought you said the compasses were controlling him!" Ranma muttered in surprised, dodging a punch aimed for her face. Ryoga followed through with a roundhouse kick to the head which in turn was followed by a turn back kick. Ranma managed to block the roundhouse but didn't see the third and final blow, instead getting nailed in the torso and being hurled back from it.

'Damn.' Ranma thought, kipping back to her feet in time to dodge a leaping ax kick that would have put a hole in the ground if it weren't made of energy. Ranma went into a quick dash forward, shoulder ramming Ryoga back a few feet and following that up with an uppercut and a mid air triple kick. Ryoga managed to grab Ranma's leg during the third kick and pulled her into a grappling maneuver, fully intent to put her beneath him as they returned to the ground.

"I don't think so..." She muttered, pulling a page from Ryoga's own book of tricks as she planted her hand to the ground and hurled them both skyward with it. Ryoga got himself a few kicks to the head in mid air which split the two up fairly well, each landing a few meters away from the wall.

"He must have another compass on him! Find it!" Luna shouted her words just as both Ryoga and Ranma leapt at one another again. Ryoga immediately went into a sidekick that Ranma twisted around, planting her hand on Ryoga's outstretched leg and using it to hold her weight as she leapt up with a kick aimed at Ryoga's face. Ryoga caught the kick with his hand before leaping off the ground and spinning about in mid air, bringing his other leg around to kick Ranma in the stomach and hurl her back. Ranma took the blow to the stomach and latched onto Ryoga's leg as she did so, pulling him around and slamming him into the floor for his troubles.

'I've got to find that stupid compass, but where could it be?' Ranma thought, looking as Ryoga got to his feet. She suddenly remembered what happened when Ryoga attempted to blast her with the Shishi Hokodan earlier, and smirked.

"I've got you now! Mouku Takabisha!" Ranma shouted, thrusting her hands forward and launching the blast of chi at Ryoga. The lost boy gasped in surprise and lifted his arms to block the blast, taking it head on as it hurled him back a few feet. Suddenly the blast vanished, getting pulled into Ryoga's back pocket.

"There's the compass!" Ranma announced as Ryoga dropped his smoking arms.

"What the heck are you doing dressed like that, Ranma?" Ryoga's words caused Ranma to pause for a few moments in surprise. Before she even knew what happened she was across the room and on the ground, grasping her stomach in pain. Ryoga had taken advantage of her hesitation and punched her with all the might he could manage.

"You're the only one who uses a Mouku Takabisha, Ranma. I know it's you." Ryoga was walking forward as he spoke these words, pulling his bandanas off as he did so. Ranma was still struggling to regain her breath as the blow she had been hit with had knocked all the wind out of her. She wasn't entirely sure if she'd be able to dodge a volley of Bandana Shurikens. It was at that moment that Ryoga ran out of bandanas, leaving his head bare as he began to spin the bandanas in his hand to gain momentum.

"What...That's..." Luna gasped. Now that Ryoga had removed his bandanas, Luna had a clear look at his forehead. More specifically, the symbol on his forehead.

"Ranma, does he turn into a girl too?" Luna questioned, seeing both Ranma and Ryoga turn towards her in confusion. Ranma took this time to get back to her feet and tackled Ryoga to the ground. His bandanas flew off randomly and slashed through the doors and into the floors and walls as Ranma struggled with the Hibiki boy on the ground. Finally she managed to snatch the compass out of his back pocket and promptly crushed it in her hands. Ryoga's skin color returned to normal and he promptly collapsed to the ground.

"So, why'd you ask if he turns into a girl?" Ranma questioned, turning towards Luna just to see her do a spiffy back flip and have a pen materialize in midair. Luna caught the pen in her mouth and brought it over to Ryoga, setting it down in his hand.

"What the heck is going on?" Ryoga groaned, sitting up and looking at the pen in his hand.

"What's this thing?" He asked. It looked pretty stupid, that was for sure.

"Just say 'Mercury Power Makeup' and you'll find out." Ryoga blinked at the talking cat and looked down at the pen in his hand before blinking again in confusion.

"Mercury Power Makeup? What the hell is...?" Ryoga was cut off as the symbol at the end of the pen began to glow and rotate. Before he was entirely sure what was happening he was bathed in a rainbow light as his clothing vanished and water poured forth from the tip of the pen. The water wrapped around his body, causing his body to shrink down and shift until he was female. Suddenly the water collected around his legs, arms and torso before rippling, becoming a fuku similar to Ranma's. The only real difference was that it had a blue color theme going, while Ranma's was more a red and blue. Ryoga's transformation ended after about twenty seconds, causing her feet to touch the ground and the light to vanish.

"Hey, how come his transformation is so much faster than mine?" Ranma asked, pointing at the now female Ryoga. To say that Ryoga was horrified would be the understatement of the year. There are honestly no words for the level of mortification Ryoga was feeling at that very moment.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" She screamed at the top of her lungs in absolute horror. Hearing the highly feminine scream escape her throat did nothing to calm Ryoga down as she just kept screaming, her body glowing an intense green as she kept up the theatrics.

"WOAH! CALM THE HELL DOWN RYOGA!" Ranma was shouting as loud as she could, simply because she had to shout as loud as she could. Ryoga was putting off such an intense aura that it was actually forcing her backwards and creating a rather powerful wind within the room. From the looks of it, Ryoga was preparing a Shishi Hokodan of cataclysmic proportions. This was not going to end well.

"RYOGA! CUT IT OUT!" Ranma was clawing at the ground in an attempt to get closer to the newly made girl. She had to stop Ryoga before she leveled the whole building. After all, Akane was probably still in here.

"Ryoga! Akane is in here! If you Shishi Hokodan this place you'll hit her too!" Surprisingly enough, this managed to get through to her. Ryoga stopped screaming and collapsed to the ground, her depressed aura still burning brightly around her body. The wind seemed to die down and Ranma quickly ran over to the blue haired girl, figuring she needed reassurance as soon as possible.

"It's temporary, Ryoga! Temporary. You can change back into a man, don't worry." Ryoga looked up at Ranma as she said this with a brief look of hope. They both got to their feet and Ryoga started to calm down, though his aura was still hanging around.

"If it's temporary than change me back already! It's bad enough that you stripped my manhood away, but then you put me in this ridiculous outfit! Must you torment me anymore?" Ryoga shouted. She went from horribly depressed to really angry in about 10 seconds. At least she was back to normal.

"Hey, I can't change you back yet. We have to kill the stupid monster in here first. Besides, you ain't the only one stuck in a ridiculous get up." Ryoga took this moment to notice the clothing Ranma was wearing. Sure, they were dressed the same. But Ranma was used to running around like a woman. It was completely different for her.

"You're Sailor Mercury now, Ryoga. You're a chosen warrior who will help us defeat evil and find our princess." Luna's words did little to reassure Ryoga. In fact, she found herself staring at the small cat like it was insane.

"Holy hell we're magical girls. Change me back, Ranma! I have absolutely no desire to be a magical girl!" Ryoga was now holding Ranma by the front of her fuku and shaking her fiercely, much to the redhead's annoyance.

"Cut it out, 'Mercury!' I don't like this anymore than you do. Just deal with it until we kill this stupid Youma." Ranma released herself from Ryoga's grip and walked towards one of the four doors in the room. She figured that the sooner they found that stupid youma, the sooner they could kill it and get out of here.

* * *

Hours seemed to pass and much aimless wandering ensued. Finally, much later, the two Sailor Senshi managed to stumble upon the Youma that had caused all this mess.

"It's about time you two got here. I've been waiting for you for quite some time." The Youma's words were utterly ignored by both Ranma and Ryoga, both of which were far too annoyed for chit chat.

"Go my minions! Attack them!" The Youma shouted. Suddenly every person Ryoga had forced a compass on appeared before them, groaning like the living dead.

"Mercury, use the move Luna told you about." Ranma shouted this at Ryoga, who sighed in annoyance and nodded before crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Bubble..." She started, an orb appearing in front of her arms. It grew larger and Ryoga uncrossed her arms, grabbing the orb with her cupped hands and thrusting it forward.

"...Spray!" The orb exploded into hundreds of tiny bubbles that quickly filled the room, covering it in a thick mist. All the zombified people collapsed to the ground and regained their normal color as Ryoga just stared around at the mist.

"That's it? Mist? My attack is mist? I'm a magical girl who can throw mist?" Ryoga was none too happy that she had such a useless attack. It simply wasn't fair.

"Quick complaining. Moon Tiara, Action!" Ranma's tiara changed into a discus of light and tore through the youma with great ease, reducing it to a pile of ashes. Ranma caught the metal accessory when it returned and put it back on her head, looking around as the energy and floating crap vanished and the basement became a normal basement again.

"Oh, you get the spiffy frisbee of death, but all I get is mist. That sure is fair." Ryoga, Ranma and Luna quickly left the scene, all three heading towards the Tendo Dojo.

"Jeez, Ryoga. What are you complaining about? You actually enjoying this magical girl stuff?" Ranma asked.

"Of course not! But if I have to be a magical girl, I'd at least want a decent attack. But no, all I get is mist." Ryoga answered.

"Hey, at least you transform quicker. It takes a full minute for me." Ranma said.

"Big whoop. I get to put on the girly outfit and throw mist around even quicker. Yay. Let's hurry up and change back already." Ryoga stopped in the middle of a roof as Ranma landed next to her.

"Alright, just concentrate on changing back and you should de-transform." With this said, Ranma closed her eyes and concentrated. She opened her eyes to find that her clothing was in fact back to normal, but she also had a feminine hand wrapped around her throat. Ryoga was in fact back in her regular clothing, but she was still very much so female.

"Ranma..." Ryoga growled, barring her fangs as she glared at the redhead she was holding off the ground.

"Hot water! Hot water stupid! I have to use hot water to change back. It'll probably work for you too!" Ryoga released Ranma, causing the red head to fall to the floor and cough to regain her breath.

"It better."

* * *

Ranma and Ryoga sat in the Furo, both once again male. They simply sat where they were and didn't speak much, trying to enjoy the hot water and ignore each other's presence.

"We're magical girls, huh?" Ryoga finally broke the silence as he uttered these words. Ranma opened one of his eyes to glance at the lost boy for a moment before closing it again.

"Yup." He answered.

"So how many more magical girls are there?" Ryoga asked. If he had to suffer, he wanted to ensure that he wasn't suffering alone. The only reason he was even tolerating the whole magical girl thing was because Ranma had to deal with it too. He wouldn't let Ranma show him up this way. Anything Ranma could do, Ryoga would be damned if he couldn't do it too. He didn't care how humiliating it was.

"There should be three more Senshi." This answer came from Luna, who just happened to be sitting on Ranma's head. Again. Like she always was.

"So, who do you think they will be?" Ryoga directed this question at Ranma, since he did know more people than Ryoga did, after all.

"Probably 3 guys we know. Mousse, Pantyhose, Kuno, Hiroshi, Daisuke, Shinnosuke, Pops, Happosai...could be anyone." Ranma answered. Ryoga snickered at the thought of a few of them, but otherwise made no response.

"Now...they might not all be men..." Luna was hoping that at least one of the Senshi was a woman. It was weird enough having Ryoga being a Senshi, what with him being entirely male.

"Trust me, Luna. They'll be men. I can tell." Luna just groaned as Ranma told her this. She had a feeling that the next few weeks were gonna be annoying ones.

* * *

To Be Continued...

(Author's Notes)

Holy crap, I updated this a lot sooner than I expected. And yes, Ranma's theory is indeed correct. Every Senshi is going to be a man. With Ryoga and Ranma filling the shoes of Mercury and Moon respectively, who's going to become Venus, Mars and Jupiter? Will I even bother to make a Tuxedo Kamen? And if I do, following the current pattern, what female will get stuck with the role? I guess we'll have to find out next time on Bishonen Senshi Sailor Moon.

Ryo-Wolf


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma, though I'd figure that that's a given. I also don't own Sailor moon, though if you thought I did you have mental problems.

Author's Notes: I've always been one to respond to reviewer comments, so I'll take this time to do so. Skip ahead if you don't care.

Glazedlookineyes101: I'm not sure I remember the comment about only being held by women. Maybe it's just a coincidence that all the decedents of the moon kingdom were female? Besides, I've already shifted the genders of everyone. Changing that small detail for continuity purposes would be very easy. Yes Ryoga is mercury. The main reason I chose Ryoga is because Ryoga closely resembles mercury and would benefit the most from the Mercury Computer. Besides, he can be smart when he needs to be.

Kuno-Baby: Answer: No. and No. Ryoga will still turn into a pig and no one will be given a girl curse by becoming Senshi.

Everyone that made Pluto suggestions: Pluto never died. How could she get reincarnated?

Everyone that made Tuxedo Kamen suggestions: Nabiki has promise, but whoever becomes Tuxedo Kamen (If I make a Tuxedo Kamen) would become paired with Ranma. You know, past lives and what have you. Not sure if I'm cruel enough to make Ranma hook up with Nabiki. Same goes for Kodachi, a male character, or pretty much anyone. As I said, I'm still debating if I should even have a Tuxedo Kamen. I never much cared for him. He also seems expendable.

Gate: Quit reading my mind, it makes me paranoid. Just for that I'm gonna mix up the order and throw in some filler chapters.

Howard Russell: First of all, Ryoga's curse is not affected. I very well may end up writing a scene in which a little pig transforms into sailor mercury. As for the comments about Tuxedo Mask, you make an interesting argument. I see there are a lot more options for the tux than I originally thought. I think you just convinced me to have him in the story.

And now, on with the fic.

* * *

The streets of Nerima had a tendency to be quiet at night. The chaos that affected the district during the day seemed to taper off once night fell, much to the happiness of the population. Night was seen as a welcome normality for the inhabitance of Nerima. So much so in fact, that many people that lived here actually went out more at night so that they wouldn't have to deal with the insanity that plagued the area during the day. This particular night was no different, as many people went about their business on the dimly lit streets; certain people went on the move. These people also took a special liking to the night. There were many reasons for this, most of which many would consider fairly obvious. For one thing, there were so many people going about their business at night that there were a surprising number of houses and businesses left unattended. And since the darkness of night provided a natural cover for the profession of these particular individuals, it made the night all the more enjoyable for them. And finally, there weren't as many super powered martial artists running around after nightfall. Thus, it wasn't very likely that these people would be stopped.

Well, that used to be true, anyway.

"You ready, Ryoga?" Ranma whispered over his shoulder from his perch on the edge of the roof. He was looking down at the two individuals he and the lost boy had been tailing for the past couple of blocks. It seems like they were finally preparing to make their move.

"Do we really have to transform to do this?" Ryoga asked as he also walked over to the edge of the roof. He noticed the two suspiciously dressed men were paying an unusual amount of attention to the window of the building across the street. It was pretty likely that they would be in the building within a few moments. From the looks of it, it was a jewelry store.

"Yes you two have to transform. You're warriors of love and justice! You can't protect the people without becoming the sailor Senshi." These words obviously came from Luna, causing grumbles from Ranma and Ryoga alike. To be perfectly honest, Ranma had tried to ditch her at the house so that he and Ryoga could make one of these runs without having to transform for once. However, the squirrel seemed to have radar for them. She caught up with the two before they even left the block.

"Alright, fine. Let's get this over with quickly. Moon Prism Power, Make Up!" Ranma said, clasping his hands in front of his chest as he announced his transformation. Ryoga sighed and held his fingers against his head, preparing himself mentally for the horror that was about to befall him. His henshin stick appeared in his hand from seemingly nowhere just as Ryoga let off a sigh.

"Mercury Power Make up." Ryoga said the words at almost a monotone. He really didn't want to have to do this. Within seconds the lost boy was now a blue haired girl in an incredibly girly outfit. With a sigh Ryoga pushed her skirt underneath herself as she sat down on the edge of the building, waiting for the rest of Ranma's transformation to complete.

"It really is annoying how long his transformation lasts." Ryoga muttered, cupping her face in her hand and leaning against her arm in boredom. Luna sat beside her on the ledge to wait for the unnecessarily long transformation sequence to complete itself, briefly wondering why it took as long as it did.

"Ah yes, I almost forgot. I have something for you, Mercury." Luna announced before doing a back flip. A small rectangular object manifested in the air and landed in Ryoga's hands just as Luna landed on the ledge again. Ryoga looked at the small object in brief curiosity, noticing a latch and opening it to reveal a small keyboard and computer screen.

"What is this thing?" She asked, pressing a few buttons as the screen came to life. This thing had a little bit of everything, it seemed. There was a variety of data pouring into the device from all over the area, giving read outs on the transformation taking place nearby to the heat signatures of the crooks still trying to break into the other building. It was even giving off readings on Ryoga's own ki signature, as well as Ranma's and Luna's.

"It's the Mercury Computer. Just think of it as a miniature supercomputer. It's really useful for analyzing and calculating things." Luna explained. Ryoga kept hitting buttons just as Ranma's transformation ended, causing the readings to change on the screen in front of Ryoga's face.

"Hey, what's that thing?" Ranma asked as she turned around, looking at the object in Ryoga's hands.

"Some computer Luna gave me. Oh hey, this thing has Tetris." The Tetris music suddenly started to come out of the small computer as Ryoga began to play. Luna sighed a bit at this before turning towards Ranma, who was pulling out a spare pair of clothes.

"Hey, what the heck are you doing?" Ryoga asked, closing the computer and stashing it away who knows where.

"I'm putting on some spare clothes. I ain't gonna get caught walking around in this stupid fuku." Ranma was pulling on a pair of jeans as she said this and had just started to tuck her skirt into them when Ryoga punched her across the face and pulled the jeans off.

"Hey, what the heck are you doing?" Ranma shouted, hitting the ground on her back. Ryoga tossed the jeans aside and did the same with the other clothing Ranma had brought. She was going to be sure that she was in-between the red head and normal attire.

"If I have to run around in this stupid outfit, so do you." Ryoga dusted off her hands and grabbed Ranma by the bow on the front of her outfit, forcing both of them to jump off the building and land on the street below.

"You could bring spare clothes too, ya know." Ranma grumbled. The two were already running across the street towards the two burglars, both of which had already climbed into the jewelry shop.

"I don't own any spare clothes." Ryoga responded just as the two got to the door. Ranma peaked in through the window to see the two guys emptying the jewels into some sacks they brought with them. All in all, they seem like pretty generic burglars.

"Oh. So that's why you wear the same clothes everyday." Ranma said quietly to Ryoga. She was trying to open the door will little success. After all, that last thing she wanted to do was climb through a window in the ridiculous fuku she was wearing.

"Yeah, that is why. What's your excuse?" Ryoga asked, just before reaching the limit of her patience and promptly kicked the door in. The metal warped and snapped as the glass shattered, both doors clattering to the floor loudly as the alarms went off and the lights came on. From the way the burglars jumped, it seemed like they nearly had a heart attack from the noise.

"Who the heck're you?" One of the two nameless men asked. He was wearing a ski mask over his face like a typical crook would while his partner had some pantyhose over his head. It was almost as if the two had watched a couple of bad movies and based their wardrobes off of the robbers in them.

"I'm Sailor Moon. She's Mercury. We're here to hurt you." Ranma said, taking on a simple fighting stance as Ryoga just sighed in embarrassment. The two crooks laughed evilly, neither apparently noticing that the alarm had been set off and that the cops were on their way.

"Hurt us? I don't think that's gonna happen doll face. You're gonna be the one that's hurtin'." The one with the ski mask said, pulling a knife out of his pocket and brandishing it in Ranma's direction. Ranma didn't really notice. She was just thinking of how many ways she could break this guy for the doll face comment.

"Heh heh. Yeah, you's the ones that'll be hurtin'. But don' worry. I hear it only hurts at first." The one with the pantyhose said with a stupid laugh. From the sound of him he had an IQ in the double digits. And judging from his lewd comment and the way he was looking at Ryoga, his IQ was about to drop several points.

"I got dibs on the dumb one." Ryoga said, an intense glare in her eyes as she cracked her knuckles in anticipation.

* * *

Bishonen Senshi Sailor Moon

Chapter 2

The Fiery Senshi

* * *

Some say that the smell of breakfast in the Tendo home could wake the dead. Under normal circumstances, this is a reference to the cooking of one Kasumi Tendo. She was rather well known to be a fabulous cook throughout the Nerima district. She had even won a few cooking contests with her food, though most people never noticed. Before Ranma's arrival, it was fairly often that a guest or two would stop by to sample her food, but now they mostly avoided the dojo out of fear of getting caught in the crossfire of some battle. Under normal circumstances, they would say the smell of breakfast could wake the dead because of how good it was. In this circumstance, the smell would have woken the dead so that they could find a grave further away so as to not be disturbed by it.

"I'm getting a bad feeling." A chill ran down Luna's spine as she awoke that day. Her entire body spasmed as a rancid stench climbed the stairs and made its way to Luna's delicate nose, being the second signal to the doom she knew was coming. And finally, she could sense a great disturbance in the house. Ever since Ranma had given her that sandwich of death, her survival instinct kicked in wherever the circumstances for its creation were repeated. There was no mistaking it, Akane had cooked breakfast.

"Wake up! We need to flee! Get up and run, while we still have the chance!" Luna had sunk her claws into the fabric of Ranma's shirt and was shaking him furiously in a desperate attempt to raise the boy from his slumber. Luna knew she should have ran for it and saved herself. But she also knew that Ranma would never forgive her if she left him to his fate of toxic food. It also meant the boy would find some way of getting revenge, and that was never pleasant.

"Wake up already!" Luna screamed, slapping Ranma across the face with her furry little paws. The nearby panda stirred a bit in its sleep, rolling over to face the two. Moments later its nose flared a bit before its eyes shot open with a look of absolute horror in its eyes. Luna could tell that the panda had learned to trust its instincts as well. It was pretty obvious the large furry creature was also able to sense impending doom like any other animal.

'Every man for himself!' A sign that suddenly appeared in the panda's hand proclaimed. Shortly afterward the creature leapt out the window and ran at full sprint away from the Tendo home. Genma knew better than to stick around. He could always visit the zoo for food. They knew how to treat a panda right.

"Wake up!" Luna was getting desperate. From the smell of it the food was getting close to completion, and knowing the Akane girl, Ranma would be the first one that had to sample it. And knowing Ranma, Luna would be the one that ended up eating it. Even if she tried to prevent it, the boy had methods of sneaking food into her mouth before she could stop him. Finally, Luna figured to hell with it and sunk her teeth into Ranma's neck. This woke the boy up rather quickly. It also caused him to jump halfway across the room and scream out in pain. Luckily, Luna had managed to maneuver her girth over Ranma's mouth, thus muffling most of Ranma's scream.

"Ranma, are you awake? Breakfast is almost ready!" Unfortunately it wasn't enough. It seemed Akane had already heard the commotion and now knew Ranma was still in the home. The pigtailed boy lost all color in his face and turned toward Luna for confirmation. When the small cat nodded her head, He nearly fainted.

"She doesn't actually know we're still here. If we leave now, maybe she'll assume she heard things." Luna whispered, getting to her perch on Ranma's head as the boy slowly and quietly made his way towards the window.

"Luna! I've got some food for you, kitty cat. Come get your breakfast." If it were possible for a cat to turn white with fear, Luna probably would have. In fact, she was fairly certain those two sentences gave her a few gray hairs as she dug her claws into Ranma's scalp.

"Now's not the time for subtlety! Get while the getting's good!" Ranma didn't need to be told twice. He made a dash for the window and leapt through it like his life depended on it. He actually soared all the way past the Tendo's barrier wall before he touched down on the ground. He briefly came to the realization that he had left his shoes and book bag behind, but he didn't care. He was already running to school and he wasn't about to turn around for anything.

"Where is Ryoga? Shouldn't he be around here?" Luna asked, briefly wondering where the other Sailor Senshi was. Ranma had slowed down a bit and was now moving at a more sedate pace, making it easier for her to actually engage in conversation.

"That goof? He's probably in Okinawa somewhere. He's got the worst sense of direction." Ranma answered. For a squirrel, Luna sure did ask a lot of questions. Why couldn't she be more like normal squirrels, Silent and not trying to get him to wear a fuku?

"Oh, well we should see him soon then." Luna's response kinda caught Ranma by surprise. Why would she assume Ryoga would find his way back?

"Why do you say that?" Ranma could feel from the way she was shifting her weight on his head that she was standing up and coughing into her paw again. He imagined it looked rather humorous what with her being on his head and all, though he couldn't see it.

"The mercury computer has one of the most advanced mapping systems on this planet. Now matter how bad he is, he could find his way anywhere with it." Luna responded. It was true. Only a complete moron could get lost with the Mercury Computer directing them on where to go.

Meanwhile...In a forest somewhere…

"Yes, level 63! I'll beat that high score yet!"

Ryoga had no idea where he was going; all he knew was that he had Tetris.

"Somehow I doubt that Luna." Ranma responded, seeing that he was heading into the school and thus decided to cut their conversation short.

* * *

Ranma walked into his homeroom class and was surprised to see a Television sitting on a rack near the front of the room. It wasn't often that they watched anything. Hell, the last movie he remembered being played was when the teacher never showed and Hiroshi played some Chinese movie. This time, however, Ranma could clearly see Miss Hinako sitting on her desk and watching the screen. What Ranma saw on the screen nearly caused his legs to give out.

"...have been stopping crime all over the city over that last couple of weeks. These vigilantes have been described as a pair of teenaged girls in unusual uniforms that call themselves Sailor Moon and Sailor mercury. Local law enforcement officials are unsure of how to react to these new arrivals to Nerima, but popular opinion suggests that they will fall under the protection of the Local Combatants Act." It was the news. They were watching the news. And for some reason beyond Ranma's entire capability of understanding, he and Ryoga were on the news.

"It seems that we've just received a security tape showing these two girls foiling an attempt to burglarize a local jewelry store." Suddenly a black and white image came onto the screen and Ranma groaned a bit as he easily recognized himself and Ryoga. The Saotome boy suddenly felt very exposed. Everyone present knew about his girl form and they were now watching it dressed in a skimpy outfit beating the hell out of a man with a ski mask. It was so obviously him. How could they not recognize the obvious?

"Wow, look at them!"

"Damn, they're hot."

"What are they wearing?"

"I can't believe they'd go out into public like that. I'd be so embarrassed."

"You think they go to this school?"

"No way, I'd know if any girls that attractive went here."

"What's she doing to that guy?"

"Ah man! Arms are not supposed to bend that way!"

"Short minutes later, authorities arrived on the scene to find the two perpetrators unconscious in the middle of the shop. Reports say that neither man was seriously injured, but they were roughed up quite a bit." The reporter continued on, but to be honest Ranma stopped paying attention. He didn't know why they were watching a news report about this in class, and he didn't really want to know. It was embarrassing enough as it was.

"Ranma!" Ranma turned his head towards the source of the voice, just in time to get struck in between the eyes by a flying shoe. Mere seconds later, a second shoe hit him in the chest, bouncing off and landing on the floor near the first projectile. It didn't take Ranma long to realize they were his shoes. He also noticed his bare feet while he was looking at the ground. With practiced ease, he slipped the shoes onto his feet before looking towards his attacker.

"Left home in a bit of a hurry today, Ranma?" Akane asked, her eye twitching as she glared at her fiancé. She was none too happy when she discovered the hasty retreat he had made that morning. The jerk had skipped out on her delicious breakfast so fast he forgot his shoes. No matter though. Unbeknownst to Ranma, Akane had packed the breakfast in its entirety as Ranma's lunch.

* * *

Deep within the cavernous hideout of the dark kingdom, the youma stood at attention in front of their mighty queen, awaiting her command. The queen in question still sat upon her throne and looked into her crystal ball, almost as if she actually expected its featureless surface to change for some reason.

"Jadeite, before me." Boomerang head commanded as she continued to wave her hands in front of her blank crystal. Considering she never stopped her hand waving, one would probably assume she had Parkinson's disease and simply couldn't stop her bizarre fidgeting. However, she also never blinked, so maybe she was just weird. As her voice echoed across the cavern, a blue fireball appeared in front of her throne, shortly turning into a blonde man that bowed before her.

"Yes, my lady?" He asked, wondering why he had been summoned.

"Have you found the Ginzuishou yet?" She asked, hands still waving, eyes unblinking.

"No, not yet."

"You have failed me many times, Jadeite. Those troublesome Sailor Senshi have stopped you at every turn." Queen beryl said, looking harshly at Jadeite. Then again, she looked harshly at everything. When you have yellow eyes, it's hard not to look harshly. Jadeite winced a bit at the jab, annoyed by his queen's lack of patience. It was true that the two girls in question had stopped all 4 of his youma. Even the minor humans he hypnotized into obeying him were stopped by those two. It seemed like they were always one step behind him.

"It is true, my lady. However, I have a new plan. My new youma has been instructed to collect samples from the Senshi when they arrive to stop it. With those samples, we can scan every girl in the city to find a match." Jadeite boasted, feeling proud of himself.

"No." Beryl's word caught Jadeite by surprise, cutting his self gloating short.

"No? What is wrong with my plan, my lady?" Jadeite questioned, looking into the harsh eyes of his mistress for an answer.

"Your plan will fail if you only scan women." Beryl said with eyes closed. This surprised many Youma, as she hadn't blinked in almost 39 hours. "Scan the men as well. Only then will you find results."

* * *

Ranma groaned a groan that would make any zombie green with envy, if they weren't already green with decomposition. This was mainly because he had recently had the unfortunate luck to be force fed lunch by one Akane Tendo. The sickening crime against cuisine that Akane had prepared that morning seemed to have only become even more horrid by the time lunch had rolled around, thus Ranma's stomach was now rebelling against his body for this latest injustice performed on it. The Liver and smaller intestine were trying to quell the uprising, but it seemed the stomach refused to be silenced. At this rate, it would secede and declare itself sovereign.

"Need...edible...food..." Ranma grumbled, slowly but surely making his way down the street with the aide of a stick to lean on. Luna was lying on his shoulder in a similar state of illness, having been subjected to what Akane considered cat food. Unfortunately for Luna, what Akane considered cat food was the food she messed up on and couldn't feed Ranma. Thus, the cat was arguably in far worse condition than Ranma was, since she had been subjected to a degree of inedibility unmatched by most anything else on the planet, including some types of poison.

"Kill me now." The cat mumbled. Ranma wasn't sure, but he thought she was having trouble breathing. Akane better not have killed his squirrel.

"Don't worry Luna. We'll be there soon. We're almost there." The click of his stick striking the asphalt was the only sound that was heard for awhile after that. That is, until Ranma walked through the door. Then the angry hiss of a cat hitting the ground was heard, followed by the sound of two people impacting the ground while one of them giggles like a school girl.

"Nihao Airen!" Shampoo said in her usual loving voice, hugging onto Ranma like he was her pillow. Ranma simply writhed on the floor in general shock, unable to properly fend off Shampoo's advances while poisoned.

"Jeez shampoo, can't you lay off once in awhile?" Ranma grunted, getting to his feet with Shampoo still firmly attached to his torso.

"Can you get me some food? I need something to take my mind off of Akane's cooking." Eager to please her Airen, Shampoo quickly detached herself from him and quickly headed into the kitchen. Ranma himself quickly found a seat at a table and waited for his meal. There was barely anyone there. In fact, the only other customer was a lone elderly man eating ramen on the other side of the restaurant. It was still fairly early. The lunch rush had come and gone and both schools and jobs had yet to end, thus there was hardly ever customers at the time of the day.

"Hey, where's mousse and the old ghoul? Are you the only one here?" Ranma asked, vaguely acknowledging that Luna had gotten up at some point and was now lying in his lap. He idly scratched her behind the ears and petted her a bit, waiting for Shampoo's reply.

"Mousse went back to China. He's been gone for months. Great Grandmother left last week to get him." Shampoo said, her accent still fairly thick even though her grammar had improved. She still struggled in some ways, but her speech was now mostly intelligible. "Father went to get more supplies. He should be back before the next rush." Ranma was a bit surprised to hear that mousse had been gone for over a month. He didn't think he was that unobservant. Wait a second; did shampoo just mention her father!

"Wait, your father? Your father's here?" Ranma shouted in shock, leaning back in the booth a bit to look at Shampoo. For her part, shampoo looked at Ranma with a stupid look on her face, almost as if Ranma had just asked her how long her hair's been purple.

"Father's been here long time. He's the cook. Been here since we opened." Shampoo said, and then went back to cooking. Ranma just blinked a few times and stared at the table. Damn, he really was unobservant. Hell, he had worked here for a few months in the past. Come to think of it, he vaguely remembered a man in dark glasses and a long goatee cooking the ramen when he was trying to steal the phoenix pill. Shampoo soon finished with the Ramen and brought the bowls out to the table Ranma was sitting at, setting two bowls in front of him and taking a third and sitting across from him. She knew he'd eat more than one bowl, so the two would probably suffice.

"Kitchen destroyer tries to poison you again?" Shampoo asked, starting on her meal as Ranma grabbed his chopsticks. He was eating a little slower than usual, but this was mainly because he wanted to savor the taste to remove all memory of his earlier lunch.

"Eh, she just tries too hard. If she would pay more attention it wouldn't turn to poison all the time." Ranma responded, speeding up a bit on his eating pace. Shampoo took a few more bites herself when she suddenly noticed a black cat jump onto the table and eat out of Ranma's second bowl, a little unnerved by its presence.

"Airen...A cat eating your food." Ranma practically hit the rafters when he heard Shampoo's words, much to the humor of shampoo. Curiously enough though, he calmed almost immediately upon seeing the creature. In fact, he wasn't scared at all.

"Jeez Shampoo! Don't do that." Ranma said, calming down and starting to eat again. He briefly pet the creature in question before picking up his utensils and digging in again. Shampoo wasn't entirely sure what to say in response. She never really expected this type of situation to happen.

"You not afraid?" Shampoo asked, pointing at Luna. Ranma followed the direction of Shampoo's finger and looked at Luna, studying the squirrel for a few seconds.

"Why would I be? She's just a squirrel." That response was even more confusing. The animal sitting there eating Ranma's Ramen was clearly a cat. Shampoo had no doubts in her mind that the animal in question was a cat. Hell, she herself was a cat half the time. She knew a cat when she saw one. But then again, if her husband thought that cat was a squirrel...

"Hey Ranma, what is Shampoo?" Ranma nearly choked on some of his Ramen. For one thing, shampoo had called him Ranma, which wasn't a good sign. For another, he had no idea what she had just asked.

"What?" Ranma asked, stupidly. Shampoo seemed a bit annoyed. She hated repeating herself, it was one of the reasons she had been working on improving her Japanese so much.

"What is my cursed form?" This time it was near perfect Japanese and Ranma understood her meaning perfectly. However, he wasn't entirely sure why she was asking it. Did she forget or something?

"You're a...a..." Ranma said, suddenly having difficulty with the word.

"A what?" Shampoo asked.

"A...um..."

"Squirrel."

"Eh?" Ranma muttered, looking at Shampoo funny. She was smiling, and something in his mind was starting to click.

"Yeah, I knew that. You turn into a squirrel." Shampoo seemed happy with that response and beamed Ranma a smile before returning to her meal. Ranma couldn't think of anything else to say, thus plunging an awkward silence into the room. A few minutes later Ranma finished off his bowl, being followed shortly by both Shampoo and Luna. Shortly after that Shampoo collected the bowls and took them back towards the kitchen, leaving Ranma in silence with his squirrel. In fact, silence continued to reign for quite a bit, and Ranma was becoming desperate for a way out of the awkward situation. Finally it came in the form of a certain lost boy walking by the window of the Nekohaten, seemingly in deep thought.

"Oi, Ryoga!" Ranma called out, quickly evacuating his booth and heading outside. An odd musical rhythm caught his attention as he exited the restaurant, hearing an unusual song emitting from the mercury computer in Ryoga's hand.

"Eh?" Ryoga muttered, turning his head. Almost the very instant his eyes moved away from the computer screen, another sound played, causing Ryoga to go rigid and his eye to begin twitching.

"Ranma…" Ryoga growled, "I was so close to beating my record!" A punch emphasized the anger Ryoga was feeling, and the nonchalant way his opponent dodged only amplified that anger.

"DIE, RANMA!" Soon a flurry of blows were raining in the pigtailed youth's general direction, earning a frantic evasive maneuver on his part. Ranma dodged, weave, bent and twisted in every imaginable direction to avoid Ryoga's attacks, constantly relocating Luna as he did so to keep her out of harms way.

"Hey, watching it. Cut that out! I've got a squirrel here, and I'm not afraid to use it! Damn it Ryoga. That's it..." Ranma leapt back from a particularly powerful looking Ax kick, only to watch as Ryoga followed him through the air with a jump kick he intended to break Ranma in half with. Before either even touched the ground, Ranma grabbed Luna by the back of her neck and hurled her directly into Ryoga's face, causing a screech of surprise from both parties and a brief mauling.

"Damn it, Ranma!" Both Ryoga and Luna said this in unison. If someone bothered to look down that street, they'd have been able to see the interesting site of a teenager and a cat taking turns stomping on a crumbled body in the street. Now most people would find this interesting mainly because it is a rare site to see a cat standing upright, let alone standing upright and violently slamming one of its back paws into the stomach of a pigtailed teen in the middle of the street. This mistreatment would have continued if it weren't for the annoying beeping noises coming from Ryoga's mercury computer, which distracted the attackers long enough for Ranma to return to his feet and gain his distance.

"What's it doing?" Ryoga asked of no one in particular, looking down at the object as he quickly opened it and saw the screen. It was currently showing a map of Nerima with a blinking dot on it, which was overlaid with various statistics and read outs.

"The mercury computer is picking up on some weird energy readings." Luna said from her position on Ryoga's shoulder. From the looks of it, it was a few blocks away.

"So where is it, Kyoto?" Ryoga asked, changing the view of the map a little so that two blinking dots were shown, one green and one red.

"No, Ryoga. You see, this green dot is the computer, and the red dot is the energy reading." Luna explained while pointing out the dots.

"Oh. So it's closer to Hokkaido then." Luna face-faulted at this, much to Ryoga's confusion.

* * *

Ramua was slightly annoyed by the assignment Master Jadeite had given her. From the sound of it, it was a suicide mission. She was supposed to just run around attacking things until those Sailor Senshi girls showed and then take samples from them before she got killed. There was obviously no mention of escape in there, so her bad mood was a given.

"I can't believe Master Jadeite made me fodder for this Sailor Senshi. He doesn't even expect me to be able to beat them! Well, I'll show him. I'll take those samples for him, and I'll kill them in the process! Queen Beryl will be most pleased." Ramua couldn't help but cackle at the thought as she walked out of the alley she had appeared in. It was a moderately busy section of town, but for the most part it was fairly empty at the moment. There were only about 10 people in the area. Unfortunately for Ramua, of those ten people 2 just happened to be Nerima martial artists.

"Konatsu, hurry up! We need to get back to the restaurant before the after-school rush." Ukyo and Konatsu were on their way back to the restaurant from a nearby grocer, both laden with various bags of cooking supplies and food. They had gone a little out of their way for some of the food they needed and now had to hurry back. It wouldn't be long before schools were over and students would pour into Ucchan's looking for something to eat.

"Give up your life energy to our Master, humans!" Ukyo and Konatsu turned their attention to the inhuman voice, spotting a weird female monster in a red dress pulling energy out of the nearby people. In an instant the groceries were on the ground, abandoned when the monster turned its attention to the chef and the ninja.

"Try to steal my energy, will you?" Ukyo muttered, pulling out her battle spatula and leaping at the youma with the intent to severely injure. A loud clang echoed down the street when spatula met skull, hurling the Youma into a cement wall.

"Nice shot, Ukyo-sama!" Konatsu said, cheering on his employer. He had leapt away from Ukyo the moment she had taken out her Spatula, knowing better than to be near her when it came out. Thus he was now standing a few yards away, Kunai at the ready.

"You miserable little human, how dare you harm me!" Ramua was not happy. She was supposed to be killing the Senshi, but instead these two humans showed up and dared to defy her.

"Die!" For a petite looking woman, Ramua seemed unnaturally strong. Watching a thin woman in a red dress lift a bus over her head was surprising to say the least. Sure she was slightly monstrous, but that didn't change the absurdity of the situation. Ukyo wasn't even sure if Ryoga could pull that off, and he was the strongest person she knew. Ukyo was too shocked to move, thus when the bus was chucked at her a few seconds later, she was certainly in a bit of a pickle.

"Ukyo-sama, look out!" Konatsu shouted, running as fast as he could towards Ukyo. Konatsu's words seemed to have snapped her out of it, but she still wasn't moving. The bus crashed into the ground on its side and skid across the asphalt in Ukyo's direction, sending sparks and chunks of rocks flying as it went. When the massive hunk of automotive death reached her, Ukyo simply swung her Spatula into it, apparently in a vain attempt at stopping its advance. This, of course, failed. Seconds later, the bus passed through the area Ukyo had been standing and struck the wall behind her, crushing itself against the concrete and brick. Ukyo was nowhere to be seen.

"Ukyo!" Konatsu screamed, falling to his knees in the street. He didn't make it to her in time, and now...

"Foolish human! That's the fate she deserves for crossing me." Ramua couldn't help by cackle at successfully flattening a human, thus she burst into maniacal laughter. However, her heart skipped a couple beats when the other one turned towards her. The strange girl in the ninja outfit was looking at her with an expression of pure, unadulterated rage. Her body was honestly glowing with an intense fury, the likes of which the Youma had never seen. And worst of all, the look in the ninja's eyes was the thing of nightmares. The anger expressed in her eyes was practically tangible. If Ramua wasn't mistaken, she could have sworn the ninja girl's pupils had turned to slits.

Needless to say, Konatsu was _pissed._

* * *

"Hurry up, you two! The city is in danger!" Luna kept running up the street, stopping every couple of seconds to turn around and yell at the two teens that were lazily walking after her. Ranma and Ryoga were taking their sweet time following Luna towards the supposed 'danger.' Frankly, neither one really bought into the idea that Ryoga's computer could predict monster attacks.

BOOOOM!

That is, of course, until a loud crashing sound came from the exact direction the Youma was supposed to be. And the cloud of dust that rose into the sky a ways down the road only furthered the idea that there was in fact something there.

"Let's go!" Ranma and Ryoga burst off at top speed, grabbing Luna as they ran and leaping to the rooftops to take a shortcut straight to the disturbance. Nerima started to blur around them as the leapt from roof to roof as quickly as they good, arriving on the scene in practically no time at all. The site that greeted them, though, was not what they were expecting.

"Konatsu?" From the looks of it, the Kunoichi had done some serious damage. There was a bus partially embedded in a nearby wall, but that was only the beginning. Giant craters marred the street and nearby buildings. Trenches were dug into every surface you could imagine. Kunai, Shuriken and various other sharp implements of death were flying all over the place and were already impaled into everything nearby. And finally, the Kunoichi herself was currently preoccupied with beating the ever living snot out of a weird Youma in a highly torn red dress.

"You getting the feeling we aren't needed here?" Ranma asked, getting a nod in response from Ryoga as the two just stood and watched the massacre going on below them. Something wasn't quite right though. Despite the amount of damage Konatsu had obviously done, the Youma didn't seem to be too injured. On the other hand, Konatsu himself was breathing heavily, and was also bleeding from a few wounds on his body.

"Annoying human, be gone!" A powerful punch from the Youma impacted Konatsu directly in the abdomen, hurling the ninja a good 10 feet and into the underside of the bus, denting the drive shaft. Konatsu collapsed to the ground in a lump, obviously too tired to keep fighting.

"Quick, transform! You have to help her!" Luna shouted, leaping off the roof and onto a fire escape.

"Her?" Ranma asked as Ryoga just sighed.

"Let's get this over with already." Ryoga answered. With a quick nod, Ranma grabbed a hold of his pendent from under his shirt and Ryoga pulled a pen from his sleeve, both ready to transform.

"Moon prism power, make up!"

"Mercury power, make up." Two flashes of light and two transformation sequences later, a blue haired Sailor Senshi jumped from the roof top and landed in the street, followed by a redhead about 40 seconds later.

"So you've finally arrived, Sailor Senshi." Ramua muttered, readying herself for the fight. She needed to take samples from them first, and then kill them. So what would be the best way to get samples? Shouldn't she have been told a specific way of doing this beforehand?

'No matter, I'll just snatch some of their hair.' Ramua thought to herself, looking at the two girls before her. Shouldn't be too hard. In an instant the fight began as both Ranma and Ryoga rushed the Youma, throwing punches and kicks into the monster as it barely managed to put up a fight. Ramua was just utterly pummeled, unable to move fast enough to stop the attacks from the two martial artists. Of course, Ranma and Ryoga had forgotten once again that you just can't beat a Youma down. It takes a lot more than some punches and kicks to bring it down, even those delivered by martial artists of their caliber. After about a minute of non stop pummeling, both Senshi were beginning to feel a bit tired from the over exertion, while Ramua simply looked annoyed.

"Enough!" Ramua's arms briefly glowed as an explosion of energy fired out of her body, hurling Ranma and Ryoga away and into a brick wall and a dumpster respectively. Throughout that exchange, the youma had indeed been able to snag hairs from both the Senshi's heads. Now she just needed to kill the two.

"You know, we really aught to stop trying that on these monsters. It never seems to work." Ranma muttered, getting up after impacting the wall.

"Agreed." Ryoga groaned as she too pried herself out of the side of the dumpster. The two stood their ground once again, ready to attack the Youma.

"Ready Ranma?"

"Ready."

"Bubble Spray!" Ryoga set off her magic attack, though one could hardly call it an attack since all it did is cover the area in mist. The mist was still useful though. It prevented the Youma from seeing them, even though they could still see it.

"Moon Tiara, Action!" Ranma grabbed her tiara, feeling it turn into a discus in her hand before she hurled it towards the Youma. Ramua was a little confused and disoriented after getting blinded by a mist, but she could still hear the disc flying at her. A quick duck prevented the thing from taking her head off, and when it turned around and came for another pass, she snatched it out of the sky.

"Hey, you ain't supposed to do that!" Ranma shouted, watching the disc turn back into a tiara in the monster's hand. The Youma tossed it aside seconds later, letting it fall to the ground with a metallic clank.

"Great, now what are we supposed to do?" Ranma muttered in annoyance, watching the youma through the mist. Magic didn't work, pummeling didn't work. What else could they try?

"That thing is mine!" the two Senshi turned their heads to see Konatsu back on his feet, breathing a little heavily but no less angry than he had been before. There was something a bit different about him though. His forehead seemed to be glowing.

"That mark! You're a Sailor Senshi!" This comment from the talking cat stopped everyone present in their tracks.

"Eh?" Konatsu responded with all the intelligence of a fish. It wasn't everyday that a talking cat told you that you were a Sailor Senshi, after all.

"Take this pen and say Mars power make up!" Luna said mid flip, handing Konatsu a pen similar to Ryoga's. "You are Sailor Mars, a Senshi specialized in fire!"

"F...Fire, you say?" Konatsu asked, a weird look in his eyes as he held the pen.

"Mars Power, Make up!" Konatsu screamed, holding the pen over his head. In an instant his body began to glow as he rose into the sky, streams of fire pouring from the tip of the pen and spiraling around his body. His ninja clothing disappeared and his already feminine body reformed into a truly female figure, just as the flaming streams blinked out, leaving the sailor fuku behind. Red heels clicked against the ground as Konatsu's transformation completed, leaving the new girl to admire the new outfit with a bit of surprise. The entire transformation took about 20 seconds.

'At last, one of the Senshi is actually a girl!' Luna thought, happy that Mars wasn't a boy. Little did she know that Konatsu was a cross dresser, but more on that later.

'The cat said something about fire...' Konatsu thought, looking through the mist at her target. Words suddenly surfaced in her mind as she thought about a way to defeat her opponent. This time, the youma was not going to be getting back up.

"Fire…" Konatsu's body began to glow with red energy as she honestly seemed to burst into flames. Streams of fire began to collect around her forearms as she brought them around her body, clasping them in from of her face.

"...SOUL!" the streams collected into a ball in Konatsu's palms just as the red Senshi pushed her hands forward, launching an orb of fiery death directly towards the Youma. The mist dissipated along the path of the fireball, undone by its intense heat. Before Ramua was even able to see it coming, she was immersed in its flames.

"AAAAAAARRRGGGGGGGGG!" The Youma screamed, running around in a panic as her body burned. The mist was totally gone now as the monster finally fell to the floor, turning to dust in the fire.

"I did it." Konatsu muttered, falling to her knees. She suddenly remembered what had caused her to fly off the handle in the first place.

"Impressive!" All three Senshi turned at the sound of the voice, seeing a strange figure standing atop a nearby building.

"Who the hell are you?" Ranma shouted up at him, only receiving a hearty chuckle in response.

"No one of consequence." He said simply, sounding like he was about to start laughing. Ranma could hear the smile in his voice, and it was pissing her off.

"What do you think you are doing anyway, spying on our fight?" Ranma asked, still annoyed.

"I came to assist you, but when the mist cleared I saw I was not needed." This time the tone of his voice changed a little, being slightly more serious though still containing a hefty helping of mirth. "The battle is over now, so I guess this is farewell." With that, the strange figure began to leave, leaping off the roof top to another one close by.

"Hold up! I ain't done with you yet!" Ranma shouted and leapt after him. However, her forward movement was halted by a projectile thrown her way. Ranma was forced to catch it and land or risk getting hit.

"A rose?" Ranma asked, annoyed. The weirdo was already gone by that point. He was really moving.

"Who was that guy?" Ranma turned her head suddenly as she heard a grinding sound of metal being moved. Ryoga and Konatsu were pulling on the bus, prying it away from the wall.

"What are you two doing?" Ranma asked as he approached the other two, seeing the bus steadily moving away from the wall. It was finally no longer crushed up against it as Ranma peaked behind it, seeing nothing but smashed rock.

"She's gone! I could have sworn Ukyo-sama got hit." Konatsu was happy to see that Ukyo wasn't a crushed corpse on the wall, but now she was simply confused.

"Hey, can we change back now? I'm tired of being in this stupid outfit." Ryoga muttered before concentrating and de-transforming.

"I don't know, I like it. Not my usual style, but it's kind of cute." Konatsu said, admiring the outfit a bit.

"Konatsu, you're scaring me." Ranma muttered, also changing back into normal clothing. Both she and Ryoga were still girls, but a little hot water would change that.

"Come on Konatsu, change back. Just concentrate on it." Ranma said, earning a nod from Konatsu as she concentrated and shifted back into her Kunoichi outfit. It was at this point that she realized something was off. Her clothing didn't really fit right, especially in the chest region. Konatsu looked down at her chest and finally came to the realization that something was severely different about her anatomy. She hadn't noticed during the fight since she was used to moving around with breasts. But now that she had both her real breasts and the fake ones in her clothes, she came to the realization.

"I'm a girl, aren't I?"

* * *

A few minutes later and the three girls were on their way to the Tendo's, hoping to get a bath and change back. Konatsu had taken a few moments to correct her clothing and was now walking down the street with a smile on her face.

"So you and Ryoga turn into magical girls and save the city?" Konatsu asked, looking at her two female companions. They had just gotten done explaining the whole thing to her and she wanted to make sure she had the facts right.

"Yeah, but it's not exactly by choice. If those dumb monsters would just die when we punched them we wouldn't even bother transforming." Ryoga added, happy that the Dojo was now in sight.

"Why not? Transforming is the best part!" Konatsu responded, causing a grunt from Ryoga just as the three entered the main house. The only one home at that moment was Kasumi, so the three were able to head to the bathroom without much incident.

"Maybe for you, Mr. Pyromaniac. But incase you haven't noticed, all I get to do is throw mist around." Ryoga said, taking off her shirt and pants and throwing them into the nearby bin before jumping into the furo, turning into a man again. Ranma soon followed suit and was also male.

"The fire is cool, but I was actually referring to the outfit." Konatsu responded as she disrobed, looking down at her female body for a few seconds before joining the others in the bath. The three sat there in silence for a few moments, none present knowing what to say.

"Uh..." Ryoga started, his face turning a little red as he felt some blood rush to his nose. Konatsu was absolutely beaming with happiness, much to the horror of Ryoga and Ranma.

"You're still a girl!" Ranma got out, pointing at Konatsu accusingly as she merely nodded.

"I know, isn't it great?" She asked, relaxing into the furo a little.

"Damn it, don't be happy about it! You're a guy!" Ranma shouted, utterly incapable of understanding why Konatsu would be happy about this.

"I was only a guy on the outside, and now I'm not anymore. Can't you tell we were destined to be girls?" Konatsu asked, causing Ryoga to briefly snap out of it and Ranma to get a weird look on his face.

"Whoa, what do you mean by 'we?'" The pigtailed boy asked.

"We're magical girls! And with me being raised a girl, you getting that curse and Ryoga's blatant homosexuality, it's obvious we were meant to be girls." Konatsu said as if she was stating the obvious, not noticing Ryoga's eye twitching or the battle aura he was developing.

* * *

To Be Continued.

(Author's Notes)

Yay, new chapter. Go me.

Next time: Jadeite puts his samples of Moon and Mercury to good use. Will he discover Ranma and Ryoga's secret? Find out in the next Bishonen Senshi Sailor Moon.

Ryo-Wolf


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma, though I'd figure that that's a given. I also don't own Sailor moon, though if you thought I did you have mental problems.

Author's Notes: I've always been one to respond to reviewer comments, so I'll take this time to do so. Skip ahead if you don't care.

Kuno-Baby: ….not quite. Read on in the chapter and you'll see why Konatsu's still a girl.

Guitar Wolf: Yes there will be a 4th chapter. In fact, you're reading it right now! Interesting, isn't it?

AshK: Konatsu will most likely stay a girl unless I change him back for some weird plot reasons later. Neither Ranma nor Ryoga will get stuck as girls though. Is Ukyo Tuxedo Mask? Well...that's my little secret. Konatsu didn't change back for reasons that will be stated at the beginning of this chapter. As for Konatsu's comment, let's just say he has a bad sense of humor.

Shinji the good sharer: Kodachi as Tuxedo Mask? I'm not that evil.

Lord Oberon: Evil clones? Where'd you get that idea? Hmm…come to think of it, that ain't half bad… Evil clones, eh?

And now, on with the fic.

* * *

The three untransformed Senshi sat in Ranma's room in general silence, now fully clothed and mostly male, with the exception of Konatsu. Konatsu, for her part, was lying on the ground while holding an icepack to her face, still suffering from when Ryoga slammed her head into the bottom of the furo and through the floor. Kasumi was absolutely furious when she found a giant hole in the middle of the furo that went all the way under the house. To be honest, no one present had ever seen her so angry.

"You should probably apologize, Ryoga." Ranma muttered, glaring at Ryoga out of the corner of his eye. The lost boy growled a bit and clenched his fist, still angry from earlier.

"You think I'm gonna apologize to Konatsu? Why should I!" He asked, angrily.

"Actually, I meant Kasumi. Konatsu had that coming." The only response gained from the victim in question was an annoyed groan. Chances were the Kunoichi had a concussion, and even if she didn't her head was aching so bad she didn't feel like talking. Some people just couldn't take a joke. It was at that point that Luna strolled into the room, happy to see the three gathered in what she thought was a meeting.

"Ah, there she is. The first female Senshi!" Luna muttered, spotting Konatsu and walking across the room to the downed girl. "What happened to you? Did a truck hit you?" Luna asked when she noticed the current state the girl was in. She had definitely been roughed up quite a bit.

"Oi, Luna. I've been meaning to ask you something." Ranma said, getting the cat's attention, "Why didn't Konatsu change back into a guy when in hot water?"

"Why would she? Konatsu's a girl." Luna responded, unsure of what Ranma was talking about. Hot water? Since when does hot water change a person's gender? Well, except for Ranma. But he's just weird like that.

"Luna, Konatsu used to be a guy before he transformed. But when we hit him with hot water, he didn't change back like me and Ryoga." Ranma explained. Luna looked confused. She had personally given Konatsu her transformation pen. She knew a girl when she saw one!

"Are you sure? I gave her the pen myself. She was a girl!" Luna exclaimed, turning around when Konatsu sat up.

"Actually, I was a boy. I just cross dressed." Konatsu explained through a wince, pressing the icepack against her head as she lay back down.

"She was a boy?" Luna asked, completely shocked. She felt like her jaw was going to fall through the floor.

"Yeah, so how do we change him back?" Ranma asked. Luna just growled at first, causing a shiver to run up the pigtailed boy's spine. For some reason, his squirrel was angry.

"How the hell should I know! I barely understand how moon magic works! When you disable the transformation you return to your natural form! Beyond that, I don't have a clue! The Senshi aren't supposed to be men, so I don't know how being men would affect the magic! You either change back or you don't! Frankly, I fail to see how water temperature is involved for you two!" Luna loudly explained, obviously angry for some reason. Ryoga and Ranma just sat where they were and blinked in general surprise, neither one having seen the cat so angry before.

"So in other words, you don't know how to change him back." Ranma said, feeling the need to summarize Luna's words. Of course, he should have kept his mouth shut, as this apparently only angered the squirrel more. Before he was entirely sure why, he was lying on the floor and Luna was mauling his face.

* * *

Bishonen Senshi Sailor Moon

Chapter 3

Jadeite's Last Stand

* * *

"You've failed me again, Jadeite." Beryl uttered, anger clear in her words as she glared angrily at the general in front of her. "Give me one reason why I should not kill you where you stand." A cold sweat ran down the general's back as he knew his queen was perfectly willing to end him. Beryl was a student of the self-destructive school of evil. She killed more of her own men than her enemies did.

"Please my queen, give me another chance. I have samples of the Senshi; with them I can begin the final step of my plan and compare the DNA of the samples with every resident of the city. I will discover who they are!" Jadeite said, watching as Beryl shut her eyes and continued her hand waving.

"There is now a third Senshi. Do you have a sample of her?" Beryl asked, opening her eyes again and staring at Jadeite.

"Well, no I..." Jadeite never had the opportunity to finish his sentence. Before he could even utter another syllable his body was racked with electric current, enough to power a small city for a few days.

"I'll kill them all, my queen!" Jadeite screamed through the agony, hoping that beryl would slacken her assault. Unfortunately for him, she did no such thing. Thus, Jadeite continued. "When I discover their identities I'll kill them! Them, their families, friends, loved ones. Everyone! Everyone they've ever met! I'm bound to kill all three Senshi in the process!" Finally the assault stopped and Jadeite found himself kneeling on the ground with smoke rising from his charred body. He struggled to gather his breath as his heart rate finally began to slow. He was alive.

"Make sure that you do. You don't have another chance." Beryl said simply, dismissing Jadeite.

* * *

Ranma, Ryoga and Konatsu were all on their way to Ukyo's restaurant to check on the chef. Well, this wasn't quite true. Konatsu was on her way to Ukyo's restaurant to check on her, Ranma and Ryoga were simply following the ninja out of a lack of anything better to do.

"Maybe it's because Konatsu wanted to be a girl? Is that why he didn't change back?" Ranma muttered, almost to himself rather than the other two. He was now sporting multiple band-aids on his face after the vicious assault the squirrel gave him and had spent the last couple of minutes hypothesizing about Konatsu's condition. Thus far, he hadn't come up with anything good.

"That sounds pretty stupid, Ranma. Why would the transformation turn Konatsu into whatever he wanted to be? That doesn't make sense." Ryoga replied, shooting down this one as he had done to the rest of Ranma's ideas. The Hibiki boy was currently engaged in a game of Tetris as the three walked, much to the irritation of the other two as he refused to turn the music off.

"I don't hear you coming up with any ideas, Ryoga. Why don't you put that game away and tell me why you think he didn't change." Ranma said angrily, watching as Ryoga completely ignored the suggestion to stop playing.

"Konatsu isn't cursed, stupid. Why should hot water do anything to him? He's never been to Jusenkyo." This was Ryoga's reply, and it was accompanied by the Tetris theme just as Ryoga cleared another 4 rows and reached the 69th level. Ranma, for his part, had two reactions to that sentence. One was the feeling of wanting to smack himself in the head for not thinking of that himself. The other was a cold sweat on his back as he realized exactly what that meant.

"Ryoga, do you have any idea what that means? Our curses are the only reason we change back." Ranma said while Ryoga seemed to ignore him. "Don't you get it? If we ever get cured then we'll be stuck as girls like Konatsu is." The game over tune suddenly played. Ranma wasn't entirely sure how Ryoga was reacting to this information, but from the look of it he wasn't taking it very well.

"Konatsu!" A female voice was heard saying, drawing Ranma's attention away from Ryoga as he noticed Ukyo advancing on their position. She seemed fairly banged up. Her arms were completely concealed by bandages, and her face was almost hidden beneath a series of band aids.

"Ukyo-sama, you're alright!" Konatsu said, relieved. Oh course, the relieved look on her face was short lived, since it was promptly removed when Ukyo smacked the girl in the face with her spatula.

"No thanks to you! I got hit by a bus! But when I come to, are you anywhere insight? No. You just left me there!" Ukyo shouted indignantly, highly annoyed.

"But Ukyo-sama, I moved the bus and didn't see you..." Konatsu tried to explain, only to get hit in the head again.

"What did you think I did? Teleport? I was inside the bus you idiot! Did you ever think to look inside the giant hole in the roof?" Ukyo asked while Konatsu just chuckled to herself.

"Didn't think so! Now come on, we're wasting time! We have customers to serve!" And with that, the two departed. Ryoga and Ranma just stood there for a few seconds watching the chef drag the newly female ninja away, unsure of what to say at that point.

"How long do you think it'll take for Ukyo to realize Konatsu's a woman now?" Ranma asked idly, feeling up to a little wager.

"She probably won't notice, unless those two have a tendency to get naked with each other that I wasn't told about." Ryoga responded. Ranma snickered a little at Ryoga's comment about getting naked before replying.

"What makes you say that?" Ranma asked, curious.

"Konatsu was a convincing girl even when she was a man. Even I was tricked into thinking he was a girl." Ryoga stated simply. The two of them turned and started heading back in the general direction of the dojo, having no reason to keep standing in the street.

"Ryoga, you fall for everything. You can't even recognize my girl form if I put glasses on." Ranma replied sarcastically.

"So? I can always tell your breasts are real." Ryoga shot back. Ranma tripped a little as Ryoga said this, totally not expecting such a response.

"...what?" Ranma deadpanned.

"What? Is it wrong to stare at a girl's breasts?" Ryoga smirked a bit. He briefly wondered how long it'd take for Ranma to realize he was messing with him.

"When they're mine, yes!" Ranma shot back. Apparently awhile, Ryoga decided.

"Hey, I never knew it was you at the time." Ryoga continued.

"Of course you didn't, you apparently never looked at my face!" Ranma shouted back.

"Huh...good point." Ryoga uttered simply.

"That's it, we're changing the subject." Ranma demanded.

"Konatsu's got a nice set herself. Kinda hard not to notice them when she's sitting naked across from me in a furo." Ryoga changed the subject alright, officially deciding he was on a roll.

"I'm not listening to this!" Ranma insisted, running off. Ryoga watched him go for a moment in silence before laughing to himself.

* * *

Jadeite sighed to himself a bit as he looked out on to the empty lot that would be the base of his operations. Night had long since fallen and the general wasted no time to set his plan into motion.

"You youma, work quickly now. There is no time to waste." He spoke, urgency in his words as the feminine underlings of beryl went about setting up. The plan was foolproof. As far as the humans knew it was just a carnival that was coming into town, but it was much more than that. The entrance as well as every booth of every ride was equipped with DNA scanners that would check every human that entered for a match to the Senshi. All Jadeite had to do was offer a one week only free admission and people would come flocking. He didn't care if it took all week, he'd get results. Then when he found the Senshi, he'd see to their deaths personally.

"They may be formidable, but I will not let them defeat me. Prepare yourself, Sailor Senshi. Your end is near." Jadeite began to laugh maniacally to himself as visions of victory filled his head. Of course, he wasn't foolish enough to underestimate them. He had a back-up plan, just incase they proved too powerful for him alone to fight. One way or the other, the three warriors were going to meet their ends soon.

* * *

Another school day had come and gone and Ranma once again found himself walking home with Akane. He was in a bit of a foul mood today, but that was understandable when one considered what had happened earlier.

"You didn't have to put Terada-sensei in the hospital you know. They might expel you for that." Akane stated, trying to be angry at her fiancé but knowing he was justified. It was the only reason she hadn't hit him yet, actually.

"Come on, Akane. He tried to grope my girl form again. He's been trying to get me to wear the girl's gym uniform since he came to Furinkan. He's just an old pervert with some weird fetish." Ranma stated simply, still feeling a bit annoyed. He felt much better than he did earlier though. It's amazing what breaking a guy's legs in multiple locations did for his mood.

"A fetish for what, boys that turn into girls? How common could that possibly be?" Akane remarked sarcastically. Unbeknownst to her, several hundred sneezes rang out throughout Japan, as that particular ailment was a hell of a lot more common than Akane seemed to realize.

Whatever happened to the old P.E. teacher anyway?" Ranma asked from his perch on the fence, still strolling across it with practiced ease towards the dojo.

"He quit a long time ago, Ranma. And now that you broke Terada-sensei's legs they'll have to find a new P.E. teacher again." Akane stated, chastising her fiancé again.

"Hey, it's not like I tried to break his legs. How was I supposed to know he'd be so fragile?" Ranma shot back.

"You threw him through a wall, Ranma! What did you think would happen? You're lucky only his legs broke. You could have killed him." Truth be told, she'd have done a lot worse if he had tried anything with her, but she wouldn't tell Ranma that.

"I throw Ryoga through lots of walls." Ranma shrugged.

"Ryoga's a lot stronger than a P.E. teacher." Akane sighed.

"Meh, we're better off without that old pervert. I'm sure they can find another P.E. teacher. There's gotta be someone they can hire. Anyone would be better than Terada."

* * *

"Ah-choo! I hope I'm not coming down with something." A man stated, wiping his nose with a handkerchief before continuing his walk. He was fairly tall, being at least 6 feet in height. He sported long blue hair that was tied back into a pony tail that draped down his back. He was dressed in a red shirt with green trim and a pair of brown slacks and had a bag hung over his shoulder. And from the look of him, he was pretty depressed.

"Ah…What am I supposed to do? I don't have any money and I've got no where to stay. Kurage has probably been turned into dog soup by now…" He mumbled, continuing his walk through the streets. If only that stupid vice-principal hadn't had it out for him. He might have been able to keep his job a little longer.

"I suppose it was for the best though. I wouldn't have been able to keep up that ruse for much longer, I don't think." He said with a sigh, continuing to walk and staring at his feet. He idly heard an odd jingle reach his ears and looked up. However, he wasn't able to stop in time and ran straight into someone.

"Ah damn it, I lost again! I was so close to beating the high score too!" Ryoga exclaimed in annoyance as he helped the guy he knocked over back to his feet. It was really annoying how often he was distracted before he could beat his score. He'd have to get lost one of these days and just sit around playing in a forest where no one would bother him. He'd be able to beat it then.

"Sorry for running into you, I wasn't looking where I was going." The six foot blue haired man said as he returned to his feet, finally looking at the teenaged boy he accidentally walked into.

"R...Ryoga?" He muttered, suddenly realizing the boy bore a striking resemblance to multiple photos his elder brother had shown him.

"Eh? Uncle Amawa? What're you doing in Hokkaido?"

* * *

"So what have you been up to lately, Ryoga? How's your father doing?" Amawa asked from his seat across from his nephew. The two of them happened across the Nekohaten and decided to get a bite to eat.

"I haven't been doing much more than training recently. I'm not sure about my father; I haven't seen him in a few years. He's just as lost as always." Ryoga said simply, taking a few bites of his Ramen. Shampoo was the only one around from the looks of it, not counting the guy with the goatee cooking in the back. The place was far from full because of this from the looks of it. Shampoo hadn't even bothered to set up a lot of the tables, so there were only about 6 open places. Only 3 of them were currently occupied. One by Ryoga and his uncle, and the other two were on the other side of the restaurant.

"That figures. He's had problems with directions ever since he met your mother. I haven't seen him in a few years either." Amawa stated, also beginning to eat his Ramen. The two were silent for a few moments when Ryoga saw Ranma entering the shop out of the corner of his eye. He decided he was better off ignoring him.

"So what have you been up to, Uncle? I haven't seen you since I was a little kid." Ryoga asked in-between bites.

"Well I graduated from the university recently and became a gym kyoshi, but I've had a bit of trouble getting a job. I just got fired a few days ago and now I've got nowhere to go. You wouldn't happen to know if there are any openings around here, would you?" Amawa asked. He idly noticed a near by pigtailed youth making a bit of a fuss with the waitress, but he didn't really pay much attention.

"Well there is Furinkan High a few blocks from here." Ryoga began, before turning towards the pigtailed boy. "Oi, Ranma. Are there any openings at Furinkan for gym teachers?" Ryoga asked, suddenly seeing that Ranma was fighting with Shampoo over something. The pigtailed boy let go suddenly upon hearing Ryoga's voice, causing Shampoo to stumble backward and accidentally toss the object they were fighting over in Ryoga's direction. From the looks of it, it was a jar of water. Knowing better than to get splashed, Ryoga vacated his seat in a hurry. Unfortunately for Amawa, he wasn't quite sure what was going on and got nailed head on with a bucket worth of water.

"Gah! What the hell is...?" Amawa began, but stopped when he noticed an odd change in his voice. In fact, his whole body felt a bit off. He may have been imaging it, but he could have sworn he was a little bit shorter. Also, his wet clothing was sticking to him in ways it shouldn't have been doing. He also noticed that the blue ponytail that should have been hanging over his shoulder was brown.

"This...this can't be happening." Amawa uttered, but he couldn't deny the facts. He was now a she. The familiar weight on her chest and the sound of her voice were more than enough to convince her, especially since she knew for a fact she hadn't taken the voice changer of the falsies with her when she left.

"Eh? Why'd he turn into a girl?" Ranma asked, before turning to shampoo. "I thought you said that was a cure." Shampoo was clearly angry at Ranma at the moment. In fact, she was resisting the urge to hit him.

"I said it was cure for Shampoo's curse, not Ranma's!" She shouted irritably, highly annoyed. It had been so hard to convince the Jusenkyo guide to have some Nyannichuan shipped all the way to Japan. He was always so uptight about mailing the cursed waters because of how dangerous it would be for it to spill midway. If it wasn't for that favor he owed her, Shampoo probably would have never pulled it off. For his part, Ranma suddenly realized his mistake. He had just cost Shampoo her chance at a cure, and from the look of it she wasn't too happy about it. Oh yeah, he also caused some random person to get cursed. There was that, too.

"I'm sorry Shampoo, I didn't mean for that to happen. I just got over excited, that's all." Ranma said, hoping Shampoo would forgive him as he completely failed to notice the brown haired woman crying about her predicament or the way Ryoga was glaring at him.

"I won't forgive you that easy!" Shampoo huffed, turning her back on her Airen. Amawa was still overreacting and Ryoga was making an impressive impression of a bonfire, but Ranma wasn't paying attention.

"I'll make it up to you! I'll do one thing for you, anything you want. Okay?" Shampoo's ear's perked up.

"Anything?" She asked, a mischievous grin slowly working its way up her face. Ranma just gulped, realizing what he had gotten himself into. It was too late now though, so he just nodded his head.

"Take Shampoo on date tonight!" She exclaimed, her good mood returning. "Carnival just came into town. We go, yes?" She was overly exited and her grammar was suffering from it, but Ranma resigned himself to his fate and merely nodded.

'Great, now I have to take shampoo out on a date. Akane's going to kill me.' Ranma thought with a sigh. It was at that moment that he remembered the conversation he had with Ryoga the previous day. 'Ah, damn it! And it was for nothing too! I totally forgot I can't get the cursed cured!'

"RANMA!" Ryoga finally growled out, reaching the end of his rope. Amawa stopped complaining to herself and looked on in awe as her nephew shoved the head of the pigtailed boy straight through the solid wood floor, quite surprised by this turn of events.

* * *

Ranma was once again walking down the road with bandages covering his face, only this time he was accompanied by a tall brown haired woman and her still highly annoyed nephew.

"How many times do I have to say 'I'm sorry'?" Ranma muttered, still feeling the headache from when Ryoga decided to put his head through the foundations of the Nekohaten. Ryoga merely grumbled in response.

'Of all the irony...' Amawa thought to herself, still unable to properly cope with the situation. What were the chances that he'd get turned into a woman and look almost identical to the way he looked when he cross dressed?

"I'll make it up to you, alright? Didn't you say you were looking for a job earlier as a gym teacher?" Ranma asked, directing his question at Amawa.

"Eh? Yeah. I am." She responded, still a little too much in shock to coherently speak.

"Well you're in luck! I broke the Furinkan P.E. teacher's legs when I threw him through a wall today, so they'll be looking for someone to fill the spot." Ranma stated simply while he continued to walk, causing Amawa to pause for a few seconds.

"W...what?"

* * *

Ranma sighed as he got home, dreading what was coming next. Ryoga had taken his uncle to his house a few hours ago and the pigtailed boy had spent that time wandering around Nerima trying to think of an excuse to give Akane. He had to take Shampoo on a date tonight, and if Akane caught wind of it he'd be dead.

"Ok, here we go. I've got the perfect plan." Ranma said to himself, approaching the door to the Tendo home. "I'll just completely avoid the subject. I'll just go to sleep early and sneak out. She'll never be the wiser." With this in mind, he took a quick breath and walked into the house.

"Tadaima!" Ranma announced, taking his shoes off at the door and walked into the house.

"Ranma! Where have you been?" Akane asked, looking around the wall as Ranma walked in. "What happened to your face?" She was fairly dressed up, as if she were preparing to go somewhere. This, of course, immediately set off warning lights in Ranma's head.

"Ryoga shoved my head through a floor." Ranma explained, hoping that would be enough explanation for both questions. "Are you going somewhere or something?" Ranma asked, indicating the way Akane was currently dressed.

"Oh. Kasumi, Nabiki and I were going to head down to the carnival that just came into town. Do you want to come?" Akane responded, causing all the color to drain from Ranma's face.

'Oh shit oh shit oh shit.' He thought to himself. "No, I think I'll just go to sleep early." Ranma muttered, walking up the stairs. 'I'm so screwed.' Ranma thought as he wandered into his room and went immediately out the window. Ranma was formulating his plan as he jumped roof to roof on his way to the Nekohaten to pick up Shampoo. He only had one shot at this, and he had to do it right.

'Alright, I've got to do this fast. I'll get shampoo, and we'll head to the carnival. I'll get in and out as fast as possible.' Ranma reached the Nekohaten and quickly went inside, spotting Shampoo in the kitchen.

"Nihao Airen!" Shampoo called, leaving the kitchen in a hurry in order to pounce Ranma. Ranma took this opportunity to grab the girl around the waist and hightail it out of the building, much to the confusion of the girl in question.

* * *

Jadeite growled in annoyance as yet another hour passed and he still lacked results. Maybe he should have just gone with the mass hallucination plan? That was sure to have succeeded. Just cast a very large illusionary spell to project his face into the night sky over Tokyo. Include a threat to burn the city to the ground and the Sailor Senshi were sure to show.

'Too late for that now.' Jadeite thought, turning his head to the side as he watched a few more humans enter the carnival grounds.

"Come on, Ukyo-sama! You're too uptight; a little fun would do you some good." Konatsu said, dragging her boss onto the carnival grounds as the two headed in the general direction of one of the rides. Jadeite took out a small, cell phone shaped object and looked at the screen, seeing the words 'No Match' clearly written on it.

"You weren't kidding, Yuka. This place is pretty cool." Another pair of humans walked through the gates, two teenaged girls that didn't seem too important to the plot. Jadeite merely looked down at his device again, as he had been doing all night thus far, and once again saw the words 'No Match.'

"Free admission? That's a little suspicious…" A short haired woman said, walking through the gates. No match.

"Come on Nabiki, quick being so paranoid." Another woman passed through the gates archways, and once again there was no match.

"This place does look fun. Maybe we should have brought father along." A long haired woman this time, but this made no difference to Jadeite as she didn't match either.

'This is beginning to annoy me.' The general thought to himself, clenching his fist in pent up frustration. He was starting to doubt the validity of his samples. If Ramua wasn't already dead Jadeite would have killed her for this.

"MATCH. MATCH. MATCH. MATCH." Jadeite nearly had a heart attack as the robotic voice of the device reached his ears, accompanied by an annoying beeping.

'It's a match, one of them is here.' Jadeite thought, an evil grin coming onto his face as he hit a button on the device. A camera image suddenly appeared of a boy with a bandana walking through the carnival with a weird device in his hands. According to the readout, he was sailor mercury.

'What? But he's a man.' Jadeite thought before putting the device into a pocket and walking towards the boy in question. He could see him in the distance now.

'So this is why Queen Beryl told me to scan the men. She knew they were boys disguised as female warriors.' Jadeite thought to himself as he calmly continued his stroll. His body began to slowly build up a corona of light, drawing the attention of nearby people. Wisps of power seemed to slowly flow off his body like smoke, progressively getting larger as more power began to radiate from his being.

"Sailor Mercury!" He bellowed, his voice carrying unnaturally across the entire area. Ryoga's hairs stood up on the back of his neck as his eyes left the screen of the Mercury Computer and met with Jadeite's. The blonde man's cold eyes seemed to stare straight through the lost boy, causing a chill to run down his spine as he suddenly got a game over in Tetris. For once, he didn't notice.

'Who is this guy? How'd he recognize me?' Ryoga thought, suddenly feeling very exposed. Luckily, everyone around was too busy looking at Jadeite to notice where Jadeite was looking, thus no one seemed to realize that he was the target of the man's attention.

"MATCH. MATCH. MATCH. MATCH." Jadeite turned to look at his device, seeing a pigtailed boy walking into the carnival accompanied by a woman. The device was centered on the boy and was giving a match for Sailor Moon, causing Jadeite's attention to be turned towards the entrance. With his attention elsewhere, Ryoga made a break for it. If this guy was going to insist on calling him Sailor Mercury, he might as well look the part. No need for the audience to learn his embarrassing little secret.

"Sailor Moon!" Jadeite shouted, causing Ranma to practically leap out of his skin as Jadeite stared through him.

"Who is crazy man talking to?" Shampoo asked, looking at the Dark general in confusion. By now all activity seemed to end as everyone drew their attention to Jadeite.

"Mercury power, make up." Ryoga muttered from behind a wall as his transformation took place. Shortly afterward Ryoga was a woman and dressed in her Senshi uniform, which she still didn't much care for.

"What the hell do you want?" Mercury shouted, catching the attention of the entire gathering as she stood atop a brick wall that was bordering the carnival. Jadeite smirked at her for a brief moment before exploding into maniacal laughter. Shortly after this, his body slowly lifted off the ground.

'What the...he can fly!' Mercury thought as she stared at Jadeite fiercely. She unconsciously began shifting into a fighting stance while still positioned on the wall, spotting Ranma ducking behind a wall out of the corner of her eye.

'Great, Ranma's transforming. I've got to keep this guy busy for a few minutes.' Mercury thought, not liking the look of the smoke-like aura the man was producing.

"Prepare yourself, Sailor Senshi!" Jadeite's aura exploded into dark flames as he held his hand out towards Ryoga, a ball of evil energy gathering in his hand.

"Die!" the ball became a beam in a few fractions of a second, barely giving Mercury's legs enough time to tense before it struck the wall beneath her feet and eradicated it. The Senshi was hurled from her perch by the force of the explosion and most of the people watching the show got the clue that now was the time to run. Ryoga skid to a stop and immediately burst into a run, aiming straight for Jadeite. With an impressive leap the blue haired girl was at the general's level with her fist cocked back and ready to fire. With a bit of a grunt, Ryoga struck with all her might, aiming for the cocky smirk on Jadeite's face. Judging from the smirk, Jadeite was not expecting a teenaged girl to be very strong. Thus, he did not even bother to dodge. Much to Jadeite's surprise, Mercury packed a significantly stronger punch than he anticipated, thus the minor shield he had around his body was shattered in an instant and he was hurled at great speeds into a nearby Ferris wheel, which got rather badly bent and dented and promptly fell over.

"Well that was easier than I expected." Mercury said to herself, hearing cheers rising from the crowd that hadn't yet fled the area. Ryoga spotted a few familiar faces in the crowd of people watching the fight, including Akane, her sisters, Ukyo and Shampoo. She also spotted Konatsu, much to her annoyance.

'What the hell is Konatsu doing just standing there?' Ryoga thought to herself, a bit annoyed that the other Senshi seemed to be content sitting back and watching. It was at that moment that a roar of anger rose from where Jadeite fell, causing Ryoga's attention to turn back to the person she was fighting.

"You wench! Do you think your pathetic strikes can take me down? I am Jadeite! It'll take more than that!" As he spoke these words Jadeite strolled out of the wreckage of the Ferris wheel, glaring at his target as he went. With a sudden grunt of effort the metallic structure shifted and floated slowly into the air, held aloft by an unknown force Jadeite was clearly creating.

"Die!" He screamed, hurling the giant wheel of warped metal at the Senshi of mercury. The crowd that had foolishly gathered was now panicky dispersing, and Ryoga wasn't entirely sure how she would go about stopping the approaching projectile.

"Moon Tiara Action!" Mercury barely registered the words but certainly noticed the attack they proclaimed. A streak of light flashed across the sky and impacted heavily against the flying wheel, knocking it off its intended course and causing it to fall heavily onto another attraction.

"You looked like you could use some help." Moon stated with a smirk, landing near the blue haired Senshi as more cheers arose from the far thinner crowd. Ryoga hadn't noticed before, but a few suspicious vans with satellites sticking out of the tops were parked nearby. At some point or another, a news team had shown up.

"About time you showed up," Mercury paused for the briefest of moments, remembering they had observers. "Sailor Moon." Ranma noticed the change in tone and silently reminded herself not to refer to Ryoga by his name before turning her attention to the problem at hand.

"Who the hell are you, anyway?" Moon asked, glaring angrily at Jadeite. The blonde man merely chuckled and floated off the ground once more, surrounded by a corona of power.

"I am Jadeite. You Sailor Senshi have been a thorn in my side for too long! And now that I know your identities, you and all your loved ones will die!" Jadeite shouted, powering up a ball of energy in his hand and hurling it at the two warriors. In an instant both leapt away, causing the ground they had been standing in before to explode as Moon and Mercury landed on either side of the angry general.

'He knows who we are!' Ranma thought, wondering how to deal with that slight problem.

"What's this? Broadcasting equipment?" Jadeite announced, gesturing to the reporters with cameras. "Maybe I should just announce your identities to the world. Let everyone you know realize it is your fault that they will soon die by my hand!" Jadeite shouted, causing both Ryoga and Ranma to tense their bodies.

"Screw that!" They screamed in unison, each leaping with the intent to nail Jadeite with a blow containing all their strength. Jadeite, knowing better than to get hit again, floated higher in the air to avoid the blows as the two girls were suddenly on a crash course with each other. However, the two were far more coordinated and graceful than Jadeite had anticipated. Thus, instead of plowing into each other in a humiliating display of clumsiness, Mercury caught Moon with a deft movement and promptly sent the other girl flying up towards their mutual target. Mercury touched down on the ground and Moon let loose with a roundhouse kick that struck Jadeite in the temple with all the force of a sack of bricks. Jadeite went down, and Mercury had every intention of intercepting him. With a jumping punch the blonde's momentum was redirected back into the air towards the descending Moon, who struck him in the back of the head with a hammer fist. This once again got Jadeite on ground level, but before he touched earth he was nailed in the gut with a side kick and was hurled through a wall. This all took place in mere moments and looked fairly impressive, causing another cheer to rise from the crowd.

"Think he's dead yet?" Moon asked, standing next to Mercury as the two looked into the small building they had knocked Jadeite into. With a sudden burst the building exploded, sending wood chunks into the crowd and blowing both Senshi back a few feet. Shrapnel from the blown up building tore a few holes into Mercury's fuku and gave the girl several scratches, but she was mostly unharmed. Moon had the good sense to catch every piece that came at her, so she came out virtually unscathed. The crowd didn't fare nearly as well. People were injured and bleeding throughout the near by area, and a few had rather large shards of wood and glass impaled in their limbs and bodies. One particularly unlucky man had a chunk of glass sticking out of his lower abdomen. After all the destruction, it seemed the crowd had finally got the hint and started to clear the area. Unfortunately, a lot of them were too wounded to get far.

"You son of a bitch!" Moon cried out, leaping at Jadeite in a jump kick once the blonde man came into view. The general had reached his wits end. He was absolutely furious by this point. He was not about to let a couple of uppity bitches defeat him and make a mockery of his power. Seeing the attack coming a mile a way, Jadeite lashed out with a hand and caught Moon around the calf, digging his fingers into her leg and then slamming her into the rubble behind him. Ranma struck the pile of wood and dirt with a grunt, breaking her fall with her arms a little but being mostly unable to fix her situation as Jadeite swung her around again and slammed her back against a still standing iron pole. Mercury, noticing Ranma was having a bit of a problem, ran forward with the intention of burying her fist into Jadeite's stomach. Instead Jadeite turned Moon into a projectile and nailed Mercury head on with the red head. As the two stumbled back, Jadeite gathered his power and forced a ball of energy forward at the two, hitting them dead on this time as a mighty explosion sent the two girls flying.

"Fire Soul!" Apparently, Konatsu escaped the crowd at some point and managed to transform. Jadeite never saw the attack coming. One moment he was smirking after showing the Senshi their place, the next he was engulfed in flames and introduced to extreme levels of pain.

"Are you two okay?" Mars asked, running to the side of her comrades as the two other Senshi returned to their feet after being blown up by Jadeite's attack. They were injured, yes. But neither one was showing it.

"I could have done that if I had a decent attack." Mercury muttered, staring at the human bonfire rolling around on the ground. It seemed the Jadeite was mostly incapacitated at the moment, which meant the fight could be ended right then and there. All Moon had to do is hit him with a Moon Tiara Action and they'd be rid of the general for good. Unfortunately, before Ranma could use her attack, Jadeite managed to ignite some nearby carnival booths with his wild flailing. And since Jadeite had built the carnival out of highly flammable materials, said fire was soon spreading across the entire area.

"Ah crap." Ranma muttered, quite elegantly expressing the feeling of this new turn of events. The entire carnival was in chaos now as people ran screaming in every given direction to evacuate. People were already injured before from the explosion of shrapnel. Now with the added problem of fire, a lot more civilians were getting hurt. Everything was plunged into mayhem as things got completely out of hand. Moon, Mercury and Mars were trapped in a ring of fire towards the middle of the carnival and couldn't do much but avoid the flames. They could clearly hear the sound of screaming coming from various directions and Jadeite was no where to be seen.

"Shit! What are we supposed to do now!" Ranma cursed, looking around at the fire in extreme annoyance. Their enemy wasn't in sight and there were people that needed help. Moon was fairly certain she heard sirens approaching the area, but whether these were from fire trucks or ambulances was unknown to her.

"Way to go, Mars! Set the whole god damn place on fire, why don't you?" Ryoga shouted, equally angry at this turn of events. Seeing nothing but flames around her, Mercury decided to do something about it. Last time she checked, Mist required a lot of water to form.

"Bubble…" The Senshi began, feeling the temperature drop around her as the vapors formed around her arms. "…Spray!" a blast of water vapor shot off in every direction, quenching flames as it past but being unable to form a mist due to the heat. In a few short moments the torrential flames that once burned violently all around was now reduced to embers slowly burning at ashes. Half the carnival was out in that instant and what remained that was still burning was being put out by the firemen that had at some point arrived.

"What do you know; it's actually useful for something." Mercury stated, a smirk on her face at this result. The sound of something cracking caused all three of them to jump a bit. This noise was followed by the groaning noise of bending wood, as if a great tree was protesting its sudden and unexpected descent towards the earth. This was actually fairly accurate, as a half burnt support beam that was about the thickness of a telephone pole was rapidly descending in their direction. Most specifically, Moon's direction, as she was directly in its way.

"Look out!" It was a masculine voice that said it, a masculine voice Ranma couldn't place, though it sounded fairly familiar. Moon had already tensed her legs in preparation to evacuate ground zero, easily fast enough to avoid the falling pole. However, before she had the chance, her legs left the ground against her will as a pair of strong arms scooped her up and carried her out of danger. The pole struck the ground with a powerful thump and Ranma once again found her feet on the ground, though the presence of the man in the suit and mask wasn't exactly appreciated.

"Are you ok?" He asked, his entire face hidden behind the mask but the concern fairly clear in his voice. Moon glared at him and pushed him back a bit, unhappy that he felt the need to save her.

"I can handle myself you know. I don't need your help." Ranma growled, still glaring at the masked man.

"What kind of man would I be if I didn't offer my assistance to a lady?" The mirth Ranma was familiar with returned the masked man's voice, making him annoying again. He added an odd emphasis to the word 'man' for some reason, as if he felt a profound irony in it. Ranma didn't pay nearly enough attention to nuances to notice this, though. Instead she just continued to get annoyed by the smirk she could hear in his voice.

"Who the hell are you?" She demanded.

"No one of consequence." He responded, the smirk still audible in his speech. Both Mars and Mercury had by now began to approach the two, a little curious about the newcomer.

"Don't give me that bullshit again. If you don't tell me who you are I'll kick your ass." Before the masked man could respond to this threat, his shoulder exploded in red as blood poured freely from a fresh wound. A large metal bar was partially impaled in his right shoulder and Jadeite was on the other end of it, pushing the masked man to the ground and forcing the bar deeper, effectively impaling him to the ground. His hat fell off and bounced away, revealing his long black hair that draped across the ground. The masked man grunted in pain at his sudden predicament, hardly appreciating being nailed down.

"Bastard!" Ranma screamed kicking Jadeite in the face and knocking him off the Tuxedoed man. The fuku clad girl quickly yanked the bloody spear out of both the ground and the boy's shoulder and tossed it aside.

"I can handle myself, you know." He stated, getting to his knees and holding his shoulder as Mercury and Mars got closer and readied themselves.

"He isn't dead yet?" Mercury asked, surprised that Jadeite was still standing after being barbequed. Mars was helping the tuxedoed man to his feet while the other two stared Jadeite down, more than willing to lay a beat down on the man.

"All four of you will die here." Jadeite stated smugly, once again using his hovering technique as he lifted off the ground. Wisps of energy began to fall off jadeite's body like smoke as he gathered his power for another attack.

"That's it. I'm getting sick of you." Ryoga muttered, her eyes closing as her body began to glow. A deep red corona surrounded mercury's body as the wisps of energy fell freely from her form. Jadeite frowned a bit at this display, noticing that the Senshi was obviously powering up a similar attack to his own. An Orb appeared in jadeite's palm and hovered there, the energy around his body flowing into it.

"Shishi..." Ryoga whispered, a tear falling down her cheek as the thoughts she forced through her mind took their toll.

"Die!" Jadeite growled, firing his blast towards the Senshi. Mercury simply opened her eyes, displaying the menacing solid red glow that had practically replaced her eyes. Jadeite couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine as the corona vanished and condensed into a beech ball sized orb in the hands of the girl.

"HOKODAN!" Jadeite's blast didn't stand a chance as the solid red beam of the Shishi Hokodan tore through it with wild abandon and struck the general full in the chest, hitting with the force of a bullet train and exploded against his chest. The general was hurled backwards, howling in agony as he fell towards the ground.

"My turn." The tuxedoed man stated, vanishing from Mars' grip as he seemed to materialize a cane in his hand and dash towards the falling Jadeite. The masked man held the cane at his side like a scabbard, putting his left hand over the top of it as he reached his target. There was a sudden flurry of motion and the flash of metal in the air, accompanied by the sound of the wind being violently torn by a fast moving object. Jadeite hit the ground with a thump and the Tuxedoed man was standing behind him, holding the cane in his right hand still, with another object in his left. From the way the light glinted from its surface, it was clearly made of metal. The red tint to it suggested that it was soaked in blood. With a flick of his wrist, most of the blood was thrown from the blade. Then with a few fast spins in the air the rest was removed and the blade was quickly sheathed into the cane. It seemed it was one of those trick canes that contained a sword within. Jadeite was on the ground, bleeding rather profusely with most of his shirt in tatters. It seemed the tuxedoed man wasn't very happy with getting stabbed. He returned the favor ten fold.

"I…refuse to…accept this." Jadeite got out, gurgling a bit of blood as he did so. Ranma simply approached the downed general and removed her tiara as she did so, letting it transform into a disc in her hands.

"Refuse it all you want. It won't matter when you're powder in a few seconds anyway. Moon Tiara..." Jadeite could feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins as his hairs stood on end and his pupils dilated. He knew what this sensation meant. It was the fight or flight response. His body was readying itself for a final move. This was it. His instincts knew that death was the only thing awaiting him.

"…Action!" Almost without realizing it, Jadeite triggered a teleportation spell with the last of his strength. The tiara dug a trench into dirt, hitting nothing else.

"What happened? Isn't he supposed to disappear after you hit him?" Mercury asked, looking at the spot Jadeite had once been.

"He got away." Moon stated, turning her head towards the Tuxedoed man only to notice a complete absence of him. "So did tux boy." She clenched her fist, still annoyed about his continued anonymity. It was around that point that Ranma remembered he had come to the carnival with Shampoo, and that Akane and her sisters were also attending. And considering its current shape...

"Oh shit!" Moon exclaimed, looking around and seeing no one around and quickly de-transformed. Both Mercury and Mars followed shortly afterward.

"What's the big deal?" Ryoga asked, a bit annoyed that she was still a girl. Her clothing didn't fit very well on a girl's body, for one thing. She had to tighten her belt a lot further or else her pants would have fallen off.

"Akane and the others were here! Remember when all that wood and stuff got launched into the crowd? And the fire?" Ryoga simply blinked at Ranma's words, not entirely able to respond to it at first.

"Akane could be hurt! AKANE!" She shouted, and then promptly ran off.

"You think he'll remember to use hot water first?" Konatsu asked, looking at Ranma.

"He'll probably get lost before he even gets the chance." Ranma responded. With that, the two quickly left the ruins of the park, both wanting to ensure no one was seriously hurt.

* * *

Jadeite materialized at the foot of Beryl's throne, coughing up a puddle of blood onto the floor before looking up. His eyes met with those of his queen and he immediately knew what a mistake teleporting had been.

"Queen Beryl, I..."

"SILENCE!" She shouted, sending electricity through the general's body. "You've failed me for the last time, Jadeite. I do not tolerate useless underlings." Before the general could protest, his life was snuffed out, a blast of power having struck his head with more than enough force to kill him. Jadeite's broken form merely laid on the grounds, bleeding freely from both his torso and now his head before Beryl used her powers to banish his corpse.

"I trust you will succeed where he failed." Beryl stated, turning to a silhouette on the other side of the room.

"Jadeite was a fool. Leave matters to me." He stated, before bowing and leaving the room.

* * *

To Be Continued

(Author's Notes)

Ha! I continued it! Bet you weren't expecting that! You may have also noticed that I randomly crossed it with two more things in this chapter. I have the feeling this fic will turn out to be a massive crossover, since the potential for it is quite obvious.

Ryo-Wolf


	5. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma, though I'd figure that that's a given. I also don't own Sailor moon, though if you thought I did you have mental problems.

Current Cross Count: 3

Note: As you can see, I have added a counter to keep track of all the crossovers introduced in all previous chapters. Please note that the counter does not include new crosses introduced in the current chapter or Ranma. So currently the cross it at 3, meaning Sailor Moon and two others. Try to figure them all out.

* * *

The sun shone down on the courtyard through the massive trees that surrounded the castle walls. Patterns of leaf shadows danced across the grass as the wind blew through the branches, providing a somber and soothing noise that clashed so blatantly with the fierce grunts and shouts of a battle. Two men stood in the courtyard, each one eying the other as they exchanged blows and blood and sweat.

"Stand fast and face me!" One of the two men cried out, his leg lashing out in an attempt to strike the other in the head. He proved too nimble, as he was 10 meters away standing on the side of a tree trunk before the kick could be completed. The second man jumped from branch to branch, trunk to trunk, circling the courtyard via trees with incredible speed while his opponent was forced to simply stand and watch and await an attack.

"Have you not the courage to face me, Konaru! Let your feet find the ground so that my strikes can find you!" The nimbler man, now identified as Konaru, continued to run through the trees.

"Do you think me a fool, Ryouma?" Konaru asked, his voice deceptively feminine. His features also betrayed his gender, as only the most observant of men could identify this person for anything but female. The warrior was standing fast to the side of a mighty trunk, his feet somehow finding holds on the vertical surface. "I only know of one man that can fell you in direct combat, and that honor belongs to our Prince." Konaru leapt from the tree, passing through the shadow of a nearby trunk and vanishing in midair. Ryouma spun around, looking for his opponent.

"Damn your tricks, sprite. Where hides you? Show thyself!" Ryouma spun about again and saw nothing but shadows on the grass, a growl escaping his lips. A flash of movement caught the corner of his eye, but Ryouma did not turn. He knew Konaru was nimble, should he move too early the rogue would alter his attack to compensate.

"Dancing Shadow Slash!" Ryouma spun, hearing the feminine voice of the rogue hiss out the spell. Konaru was upon him, his dagger in-hand and producing a black aura wisp from its edge. Ryouma held out one hand in his direction, the blade stopping for seemingly no reason.

"What…" Konaru muttered, pressing on his blade in an attempt to move it forward without success. A smirk crossed Ryouma's face as he saw the effeminate man struggle.

"You should know better than to use such weapons against me." Ryouma gloated before pushing forward, throwing Konaru off his feet as the dagger was violently yanked from his hand and thrown over his shoulder.

"If you intend to strike my back, use your true Dagger!" Ryouma shouted, rushing towards the downed man with his fist drawn back, a glint of steel forming on his knuckles.

"I yield!" Ryouma's hand stopped a few scant centimeters from Konaru's face, sparing the rogue from a bruise that would surely mar his otherwise unblemished visage. With a smirk, Ryouma stepped away from the downed rogue, allowing him to stand and wipe the dirt from his clothes.

"One day I will crack the Armor of Emotoas." Konaru mumbled, almost under his breath. Ryouma laughed a roaring laugh, so amused by Konaru's claim that he was practically in tears.

"The day you crack the Armor will be the very same day the Dagger lies broken at my feet." Ryouma remarked, earning a glare from Konaru. A young guard rushed out into the courtyard just then, saluting each of the two men quickly before nervously trying to recall his mission.

"Sir Ryouma, Lady Konaru! The Prince wishes an audience with both of you. He awaits you and the others in his chambers!" The guard spoke quickly, clearly nervous to be speaking with these two. They both nodded and quickly headed into the castle.

"Lady? What deceptions have you been playing upon the guards, fire sprite?" Ryouma growled out, sending a glare at his companion as the two strode through the castle interior, on their way to the Prince's chambers. Banners showing the Emotoas crest in intricate embroidery lined the walls of the stone fortress and decorations were common all around.

"Having the appearance of a fair maiden is beneficial to my profession. Men that are better off dead die easier when they believe their assassin to be nothing more than a chambermaid. I must keep my practice up, my dear Ryouma. If I cannot convince a lowly guard that I am a woman, then I couldn't hope to fool a noble." Konaru remarked, turning a corner and walking up a set of red rugged steps.

"Tch! A true maiden garbs herself in dress and corset. Not even the lowliest of peasant girls would dare be seen in the rags and robes of a rogue. Only a fool would believe you fair." Ryouma responded.

"You wound me. Not all men share your strength of perception, oh mighty Armor." He said back. Ryouma could hear the sarcasm with which the rogue spoke his title.

"Be he soldier or lecher, any man could see through you, fire sprite. I need not the perceptions of the Armor to see your bosom is lacking." As the two warriors entered the prince's chambers, he was greeted with the sight of Konaru hitting Ryouma over the head with an end table. Ryouma hit the ground with a groan, briefly cursing himself for not paying enough attention to see the attack.

* * *

Bishonen Senshi Sailor Moon

Chapter 4

Nephrite's First Move

* * *

Ryoga groaned and sat up, shaking his head to clear it of the wooziness of recent sleep. That was the last time he listened to Ranma talk about his weird dreams. Now he was getting them. Dreaming about being some prince may be all well and good for Ranma, but talking like Kuno and fighting with someone who looked suspiciously like Konatsu was not his idea of a good dream.

"I should smack Ranma next time I see him for infecting me with his crazy dreams." Ryoga had intended to mumble to himself. However, this came out as a series of oinks. Ryoga had forgotten he had slept as a pig. The previous night's events returned to him as he let out the pig equivalent of a sigh. The fight they had the previous night was a disaster. So many people had been hurt; Ryoga couldn't even begin to assume just how many. He did know that the Tendo girl's were relatively unharmed. Akane had managed to protect them from the shrapnel and fires. Everyone else was another matter

Ryoga shook his head again, stretching out the kinks in his bones. Sleeping on the floor in a pile of clothing had its advantages, but comfort wasn't among them. The sound of hooves clicking against a wooden floor was the only thing Ryoga could hear as he ventured into the great unknown of the Tendo hallway. It was quiet that morning. Almost…too quiet. A shadow darted across the floor, just behind the small piglet.

"oink?" Ryoga oinked, turning his head and looking down the hall. Nothing but an empty corridor. Yet for some reason, the hairs on the back of his head began to stand on end. Ryoga took a few more steps in the direction of the stairs, his danger sense going off again just as another shadow darted by behind him.

'Something's there.' Ryoga thought, turning around and gazing hard into the hall. Nothing was there. But why was he so on edge?

"BLITZKRIEG!" Ryoga leapt to the side on his little piggy legs, narrowly avoiding a first class cat pounce as Luna crashed to the ground where he had previously been standing.

'Eh? Not Ranma's cat again!' Ryoga thought, watching in extreme annoyance as Luna turned towards him and pounced again. Ryoga made another leap, jumping down the hall and landing near the edge of the stairs. The cat was just behind him though, in mid-flight with claws at the ready. Ryoga rolled to the side, narrowly dodging the feline as Luna suddenly realized she was over the stairway.

"Oh poo." She muttered, flying down the stairs. She cursed the little piglet all the way down, bouncing off a step about half way down and tumbling the rest of the way to the ground floor. She stood up and groaned, stretching to get the kinks out of her joints from the fall.

"You've won this battle, P-chan. But you haven't won the war!" Luna muttered, raising her nose in a huff and walking towards the kitchen. She's been trying to sink her claws into Akane's pet piglet for weeks now, but that little squirt was a bitch to get a hold of. It was way too smart for its own good. Luna was intent on catching it though. It was her predatory duty to dig her claws into that thing. She'd have to ask Ryoga to assist her next time. She had already tried asking Ranma, but he just laughed at the idea for some reason. With a sigh, Luna got her mind on other things. She was hungry, and knew she could get some food off of the eldest sister.

"Meow!" Kasumi turned to look at the small black cat at her feet.

"Oh, are you hungry, Luna?" Kasumi asked, earning an emphatic meow from the cat in response. With a smile, she headed to the fridge and got out a can of Tuna. Normally Kasumi preferred getting fresher food from the market, but ever seen Ranma had adopted the cat as a pet she had begun to stockpile some canned food for the feline. She was happy that Ranma was getting over his fear of cats, but he really needed to learn to care for her better. She had never seen him feed Luna, and there wasn't a litter box in the house that she could find. She was just glad that the cat seemed to be house trained, as she had also found no sign of feces anywhere.

'I just hope she's not burying it in the garden.' Kasumi thought, cracking open the can of tuna and preparing it for the cat. Luna was on the counter in an instant, her little head butting against Kasumi's hands to get her away from the food so that she could eat it.

"Alright Luna, you can have it now." Kasumi said, moving her hands away as Luna enthusiastically dug into the food. She really had to talk to Ranma about the care of his pet. She wouldn't stand for any animal neglect in her home.

"Oh dear, I almost forgot." Kasumi said with her hand suddenly over her mouth. She had forgotten to prepare a lunch for Ranma and Akane that morning. They had already left for school as well. That wouldn't do.

"Saotome-san!" Kasumi called. A furry head found it's way inside the door and looked at Kasumi inquisitively. A wooden sign suddenly joined the head in the doorway, showing a message that matched its facial expression.

"Could you pick up a lunch for Ranma and Akane? I forgot to give them something this morning."Genma thought about the request for a second before nodding his head. Genma quickly wrote down an affirmative on his sign before heading out the door. It's not like he had anything better to do anyway. The mornings were always especially boring for Genma Saotome. He had practically nothing to do, after all. Soun was at work, and he didn't have a job ever since Tofu fired him. (how was he supposed to prevent himself from shedding on patients? It wasn't his fault that old woman had such a violent reaction to Panda fur.) Training without Ranma around just didn't seem worth it either. He was well beyond his prime, and the only real methods of training he knew of or used couldn't be done in a backyard. (Well, they could, but Kasumi would be furious.) That basically only left lounging around the house and assisting Kasumi whenever she asked for it, which wasn't nearly often enough, in Genma's opinion.

'Well, at least I have something to do.' He thought to himself. The residents of Nerima paid no mind as a full grown Chinese giant panda sprinted down the street on all fours, heading towards the market at full tilt. There were very few members of the community that were not familiar with the Panda known as Genma Saotome. This wasn't the first time he had been sent on an errand, after all. While there were few people that knew the Panda was actually a man, no one seemed to raise an eyebrow or demand an explanation when a 260 pound animal well over 6 feet in height strolls into their store and purchases a carton of milk and three loaves of bread. Sometimes Genma had to marvel at the power of denial. People would believe you could teach an animal to do anything, it seems.

Genma arrived at his destination and slowed to a trot, ambling into the small building with a purpose in mind. The shop keeper took one look at him as he came in before turning back to his magazine, practically ignoring the panda bear that just waltzed in and started sniffing around at the display of box lunches.

"Are you looking for something specific, Panda-san?" That was a first, Genma thought. The shopkeeper was actually talking to him now. With a bit of a hop, Genma got up on his back legs and grabbed two box lunches in his paws. Now standing upright at nearly 7 foot tall, Genma walked over to the counter with practiced ease and put down the two lunches, pulling some yen out and dropping it on the counter as well. The shopkeeper just smiled like a man who had just witnessed an amazing magic trick before taking the money and putting it in the register.

"Alright, Panda-san. Take care." Genma nodded as the man put the bentos into a plastic bag for him. Grabbing the bag in his mouth, Genma dropped back to all fours and strolled out of the building before picking up speed. It was getting much harder to get around on two legs these days. Genma had all but given up on the attempt, in fact. Pandas just weren't designed to walk on two legs for extended periods of time. He was starting to fear that he would mess up his hips and spine. As both a panda and as a man, he was experiencing more pain in those areas as of late.

'I need to think up a new technique. A way to fight on all fours without limiting myself. It'll give me something to do, and I'm sure it'll surprise the hell out of Ranma.' Genma thought, still charging down the road in the direction of Furinkan. He needed to keep the boy on his toes, after all. Ever since the hell's cradle incident Ranma had been acting as if he was the better martial artist. He wouldn't stand for that though. It was his duty as Ranma's father and sensei to pound that boy into the dirt at every feasible opportunity.

"Oi pop, what're you doing here?" Genma stopped in his tracks at the voice. Impossible! How did Ranma get the jump on him? He wasn't even at Furinkan yet.

[ "Why aren't you in school, boy?" ] Genma got up on two legs and turned towards his son, grunting a little from the effort to stay upright. He watched Ranma's eyes move back and forth across the sign for a moment, awaiting his response.

"I got into a fight with Akane and she kinda punched me into the next district." Ranma answered, scratching his neck at the base of his pigtail. It had been true, he did get into a fight with Akane. However he had purposely left out what the fight was about. Ranma had no intention of telling his father that he got into a fight with Akane over the Sailor Senshi. He also didn't intend to tell his father that Akane punched him into the next district for comparing her bust size to Sailor Mercury's. Ranma made a mental note to never mention that to Ryoga either.

[ "Kasumi asked me to give you this." ] Ranma read, taking the plastic bag from his father's mouth. Box lunches. That was perfect. He was beginning to get hungry. He heard the squeak of a marker being pressed to the wooden board moments before something struck him in the back of the head, bringing him to the ground with a grunt of surprise and pain. By the time he got back up his father was long gone, the sign he had hit him with lying on the ground.

" 'Get to school.' Gee pop, beat me over the head with it, why don't cha?" Ranma grumbled, picking up the bag he had dropped and setting back off in the direction he had been going in previously. It actually wasn't the direction of the school, since Ranma had no intention of going back there. There were too many people sporting bandages and wrappings. There was even one guy with his arm in a cast, and multiple people who hadn't shown up at all that day. He felt too guilty to go back there.

'Yesterday was a total disaster. I don't think it could have gone any worse than that. Who knows how many people got hurt in that fight.' Ranma walked down the street in thought, a somber look on his face as his eyes just stared out into space. It was bad enough that there were so many people caught in the crossfire, but now the Sailor Senshi were all over the news. They were practically on every channel. He hadn't bothered to see what was being said about them though. He couldn't imagine it was good though.

Ranma stopped in his tracks, a bit of dirt crunching under the heal of his shoe as he shifted his weight to his front leg. The hair on the back of his neck was beginning to stand on end and a chill ran down his spine. For some reason, his senses were screaming at him. He was in great danger.

'What's going on?' He thought to himself as his eyes scanned his surroundings. He stood as still as a statue, only moving his eyes as he looked about for the source of his distress. He didn't dare move, almost fearful that he would encourage an attack from whatever being was threatening him.

Suddenly a sound reached his ears, a sound of the air being split by an object moving at high speed. In an instant every muscle in Ranma's body exploded into action, his entire form blurring as his feet left the ground and he twisted around in mid air, narrowly avoiding a bicycle that had been moving at such high speeds he almost suspected it had been fired from a cannon.

"What the," Ranma began, feet on the ground again as the bike impacted the cement and practically exploded, being bent and broken beyond repair with multiple metal chunks being sent flying in various directions. Ranma never got a chance to finish his exclamation though. A foot found its way into his face and any further words were silenced. With a grunt Ranma skid across the asphalt of the street, rolling to his feet and adapting a stance as soon as he was able. However, as soon as he saw his attacker, he froze in surprise. That was all she needed to kick him in the head again.

"Sh...Shampoo! What're you doing?" Ranma managed to get out, ducking his head under a round house kick and blocking the subsequent punches thrown at his face and mid section. Shampoo gave him no response other than an angry look as she threw a side kick towards Ranma's abdomen, which he jumped back to avoid.

'What the hell is going on?' Ranma thought. He'd never seen Shampoo act this way before. Just to be sure, he glanced at her chest for any sign of the reversal jewel and noticed it wasn't there. However, he did notice something else. Under the neckline of her blouse he saw the faint white line of a bandage around her right shoulder. He had been wondering why she was only punching with her left arm. She was left handed, sure. But she usually wasn't so exclusive. Another left handed punch was thrown for his face and sidestepped, though this time Ranma caught her around the wrist.

'I knew it,' He thought, his eyes widening a bit in realization as he felt the bulge of another bandage under the silk fabric of her sleeve. Shampoo twisted her wrist out of Ranma's hold and sent a side kick towards his face, however Ranma quickly blocked it and rushed forward, striking Shampoo in the midsection with a palm strike. It was soft, not hard at all like a real blow, but more of a tap. Even so, Shampoo flinched and leapt out of Ranma's range. Ranma was certain he had felt another bandage.

"What happened to you, Shampoo?" Ranma asked. Shampoo dropped out of her fighting stance and turned her back on Ranma. With a huff, she crossed her arms, looking away from the pigtailed martial artist.

"It your fault." She responded, clearly annoyed. Her husband had really been getting on her nerves lately. It was starting to become infuriating. It was times like this that she really sympathized with the Tendo girl. Sometimes, Ranma just needed to be hit. And it felt good to hit him.

"My fault? How is it my fault?" He asked. Shampoo resisted the urge to scoff as she spun around and glared at him.

"You abandoned me when crazy man showed up! Girl senshi came to fight him and you fled like a coward! You run away and a ferris wheel fell on Shampoo!" Ranma opened his mouth to respond but immediately deflated. Shampoo continued to glare at him, seeing he had no response coming. How dare he just abandon her like that? And now he wasn't even trying to defend himself.

That wasn't totally true, however. Ranma was in deep thought at the moment, trying to think up an excuse. 'There's no way in hell I can tell her the truth,' He thought, 'but I have to say something.' Ranma turned to Shampoo in order to retort, but noticed she was walking away.

"Oi, Shampoo! Wait up!" Ranma shouted. He quickly ran after her, but it was obvious she was in no mood to deal with him. As soon as he was close enough she gave him a swift uppercut to the face and he was sailing across town.

* * *

Nephrite sighed slightly to himself as he continued to walk through the park at a sedate pace. All his life Nephrite had believed in the power of the stars. He had always been confident that through his astrological studies, he could predict almost anything. He had never failed to consult the stars and get an accurate reading in the past, but now they seemed to have failed him. He turned to the stars in search of humans at their peak, Humans that had reached a level of energy so high that he could harvest more life force than Jadeite could pull from a crowd of 20. However, when he searched the skies for the specific humans at their peak, he was not rewarded with a specific individual. The stars had unleashed upon him a backlash of men and women from across Japan. Literally hundreds of people had suddenly flooded his mind and he had nearly lost consciousness from the ordeal. He wasn't entirely sure what to make of it.

'It makes little sense. The stars should have shown me a single individual that was about to reach their peak energy level. But instead, I see hundreds, even thousands of people. What could it mean?' Nephrite suddenly stopped and turned his attention skyward. He had suddenly sensed something. It was an immense human energy, an energy so high he almost suspected it to belong to multiple people. But no, his senses were telling him a single person possessed this power. And they were approaching his position rapidly.

"Who goes there?" Nephrite asked, turning in the direction the power was coming from. He saw nothing, not even a hint of a human anywhere nearby. For a moment he was confused, but then he heard the air above him whistling.

"From above!" He cried, preparing to jump away as he suddenly saw a body descending on his position. He cursed himself for being so careless when the human impacted heavily against his body, throwing both of them back a few meters. Both hit the ground hard and rolled a bit, but his attacker returned to his feet first.

"Sorry about that, I didn't see you there." The young boy commented, standing over Nephrite and holding out his hand. The Dark General eyed the boy warily before accepting the offered hand and pulling himself to his feet. There was little doubt, this boy was giving off a surprising amount of energy. With Nephrite's trained senses, it was almost like staring directly into a bright light. It was almost painful to concentrate on this boy's aura.

'I'm not accustomed to feeling so much energy in a single human. Could this be what the stars were telling me? Are there really so many humans in this country with energy like this?' Nephrite thought to himself, then grinned.

"That was quite a blow, boy. If I didn't know any better I'd say you attacked me." Nephrite commented, a smirk on his face. 'I must have this boy's energy.' The boy was scratching the back of his neck nervously and muttering something or other, but Nephrite hadn't been paying attention. He saw a glint of something metallic on the floor and bent over to pick it up.

'My loyal youma,' Nephrite thought, his hand hovering over the circular ornament, 'possess this token. Bring this boy's energy to it's highest level and harvest it for our master!' An intricate rune suddenly appeared on the surface of the object and glowed a bright red for a moment before vanishing without a trace. His spell cast, Nephrite picked up the object and presented it to the boy, a smirk still on his face.

"I believe you dropped this?" He asked politely, showing the boy the pendant he was holding.

"Eh! I didn't even notice it fall off! Thanks, Luna would have killed me if I lost it." The boy muttered, grabbing the pendant from his hand. His body went rigid for a split second, almost as if he were electrocuted, and an angry look crossed his face. For an instant, Nephrite feared he had been found out, but then the boy's body relaxed and he sedately tied the pendant around his neck again. He could only grin wider when he saw the empty look in the boy's eyes.

"Until we meet again." Nephrite chuckled out, then quickly went on his way.

* * *

It was the beginning of a new day in the city of Nerima and the people slowly started to go about their lives. The sun rose, people woke, and the usuals of the day began. Bathing, eating, preparing for school and work respectively. Just as the sun shined its light into the window of the Ucchan's restaurant, one Ukyo Kuonji began to wake up.

"Ugh." Ukyo groaned. She turned over in bed and threw her covers over her head, wanting desperately to avoid the sunlight. Ukyo was still soar from getting hit by a bus a few days earlier, and when you add to that the injuries she received while attending the carnival, she really didn't feel like waking up.

Of course, not all things go the way one wishes. And once Ukyo began to think rationally, she realized that she couldn't really afford to sleep in. Economically, leaving the Ucchan's closed for a day really wasn't an option. Not to mention she probably should start showing up for school.

"Uhnn..." With a groan, Ukyo sat up in bed and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, flinching a little from having to move her arm. Her right shoulder and her side were heavily bandaged and she favored her right leg a little. She also had a bandage wrapped around her forehead, and was in the process of putting her stiff right arm into a sling.

"I'm not looking forward to today." Ukyo muttered to herself, standing up and putting all her weight on her left leg. Slowly, she limped her way towards the bathroom, hoping to enjoy an extra long soak to alleviate her soreness and ease her most recent injuries.

Of course, by the time she reached the bathroom, she was rather annoyed to find the door locked and the 'do not disturb' sign up. She could also hear the shower going, which was odd, cause Konatsu usually used the bath. Ukyo grumbled to herself, but decided to just go downstairs and eat some breakfast while Konatsu finished up. That is, until she heard a noise from the bathroom. She almost didn't catch it, and upon noticing it she did a double take. Surely she had heard that wrong. It was too early and her imagination was playing tricks on her. That is, until she heard it again.

"Konatsu? What the hell are you doing in there?" Ukyo asked, knocking on the door with her left hand. She heard Konatsu jump in surprise, followed by a bit of scrambling.

"U...Ukyo-sama?" He asked. Ukyo could have sworn his voice had gotten higher recently. She just figured he had been practicing more. He sounded a lot more feminine.

"Are you okay, Konatsu? I thought I heard you moaning." Ukyo asked. She could hear Konatsu muttering something under his breath, but she couldn't quite catch it.

"I'm fine! Just taking a quick shower!" He responded.

"Alright. Let me know when you're done, okay? I want to take a bath." Ukyo walked towards the stairs, briefly hearing Konatsu's acknowledgment but not really paying attention. She sighed to herself as she sat down behind the grill. She should have expected this kind of thing to happen eventually. At least he was doing it in the shower. Ukyo looked up upon hearing the front door open and was rather surprised to see Ryoga Hibiki walk into her restaurant.

"Eh? Ryoga? What are you doing here so early?" She asked, sounding genuinely surprised. Ryoga looked fairly surprised himself, like a man who found a penguin walking around in a supermarket. Not astounded, afraid or curious, just incredibly confused.

"Ukyo? What are you doing in Shinjuku?" Ryoga asked with a serious look on his face. Ukyo could only sigh and shake her head. He was hopeless.

"Sit down, Ryoga. I'll make you some breakfast." Ryoga nodded and sat down on a stool while Ukyo went about preparing the stove for cooking. She heard a loud thud from where Ryoga's pack struck the ground but ignored it. She just hoped it didn't crack her floorboards.

"Ukyo! What happened to your arm?" Ryoga suddenly asked, as if just now noticing her right arm was in a sling.

"I got hurt at the Carnival the other day. Where you there?" Ryoga seemed to go as white as a sheet when she mentioned the carnival, but he shook his head in the negative. Odd.

"Well things kinda hit the fan down there. Anyway, when that building exploded a bunch of shrapnel hit this one tree and it started to fall over. There was this kid who was in the way, so I pushed him out of the way and got nailed by it. I was partially crushed, dislocated my shoulder, got cut up a little and I'm really sore. But I'll be fine in a few days. Doctor said he was surprised I didn't break anything." Ukyo noticed that Ryoga seemed to get paler as she went on, and he looked to be pretty upset over it. It was a little surprising to see Ryoga getting so worked up over her. He normally never really gave her two looks. Ukyo averted her eyes from the lost boy and fixed her gaze on the okonomiyaki she was cooking. She really hoped she wasn't getting sick on top of everything, her face felt flushed.

"I'm so sorry, Ukyo." Ryoga suddenly said, bowing his head to her.

"Why? It's not like you knocked the tree over or anything." Ryoga seemed to freeze up at that, but he didn't really have the chance to say anything in response. Konatsu had just came down the stairs dressed in his usual kunoichi outfit. Something had been bothering her lately about Konatsu, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. He was looking a lot more feminine lately, that was for sure.

"Bath's ready, Ukyo-sama." Konatsu said as he came down the stairs. His gaze wandered a little and settled on Ryoga, who was shuffling through his pack for something.

"Oh, Ryoga-kun. What are you doing here?" Konatsu asked. Ukyo couldn't help but raise her eyebrow a little at the honorific. Since when had Konatsu been so friendly with Ryoga. For his part, Ryoga seemed to be ignoring him. He was just drinking out of a canteen he pulled from his pack.

"Konatsu, did you recently buy a larger set of fake breasts or something?" Ukyo asked. Konatsu chuckled nervously a bit at that. Ukyo could also hear Ryoga choking on his water and coughing violently, but she ignored him.

"...Something like that. Why do you ask, Ukyo-sama?" Konatsu responded, patting Ryoga on the back to try and get him breathing normally again.

"I thought so. I figured you were looking curvier lately." Ryoga's coughing fit intensified a bit and Konatsu's patting got much harder in turn. Ukyo, however, didn't really care. She wanted to take a bath. With that thought in mind, she headed upstairs to the bathroom and a much needed soak.

* * *

Amawa Hibiki was not having a good week. It was bad enough she had lost her job, alienated her students and essentially been kicked out of town a few days back, but she had just recently been forced to move into her nephew's house out of desperation. Not to mention she had mysteriously been turned into a woman just recently. And worst of all, Her clothing had been ruined at the carnival the other day, and she lost her bag in the confusion. She had been forced to sleep in nothing but her boxers last night. All in all, it amounted to a pretty terrible week.

"Saa. I knew I shouldn't have agreed to that crazy old woman's scheme. This is karma. The gods are punishing me for lying to children. I just know it." Amawa sat up in bed, groaning off sleep and stretching to remove the kinks from her body. Doing so reminded her of the new additions to her torso, causing another sigh of despair.

"Oh well. I suppose I might as well try and cope with my fate. The only way to deal with Karma is to accept your punishments like a man!" Amawa announced, getting to her feet suddenly and causing her breasts to bounce.

"Or, like a woman, anyway. Oh well. Ryoga did say something about hot water fixing this. I just need to have a positive attitude. Besides, I told Ryoga that today is the day I get another job as a gym kyoshi!" She said to herself. Nodding, Amawa got out of bed before crossing the room and opening the door. Sometimes, it was a bit of a blessing that her brother and his wife had such horrible senses of direction. For one thing, it meant that Amawa didn't have to explain her current predicament. For another, it made finding things in the home easy, as everything was clearly labeled.

"I wonder how often those two come home anyway. It's amazing the electricity and water haven't been cut off yet." Amawa thought aloud, walking down to the room labeled 'bathroom' and quickly walking in. Maybe the bills were paid automatically from their bank accounts or something? If that was the case, Amawa would have to thank Ciera later for having the foresight to do that. It made squatting in the home of your brother's wife a lot easier.

"I'll be sure to do something to repay her next time I see her. Ciera's a nice enough person. I've got enough Karmic punishment as it is without taking advantage of my sister in law." With this final thought, Amawa stripped out of her boxers and threw them into a nearby laundry bin. After her bath, she would just get dressed and head down to the local high school. Hopefully, she would be able to get an interview with the principal. She briefly hoped he wasn't as psycho as the last principal.

* * *

Meanwhile, At Furinkan, a man with a palm tree growing out of his head sneezed. He hoped he wasn't coming down with a cold. He hadn't even been able to torment Ranma Saotome yet today.

* * *

"Nah, that's pretty unlikely, "Amawa muttered to herself, "No one's as crazy as she was."

* * *

Once again, principal Kuno sneezed.

"Hmm, I tink I'll jus take sum cold medasin, jus in case, ya?" Principal Kuno said to himself, pulling a bottle out of his desk and chugging some of it.

* * *

Amawa sighed in relief as he stepped out of the bath. It really did feel better to change back into a man. He was still disturbed about walking around in a female body. It was just completely different from when he cross dressed. For one thing, he was much shorter. He didn't even realize it at first, but after standing up next to his nephew and seeing he was actually shorter than Ryoga, it had turned disorienting. It wasn't by much, but he was used to having to look down to see people's faces. Looking up or even straight just felt funny.

"Ah well. I hope I don't have to deal with it too much." Amawa shrugged his shoulders and walked back into the master bedroom and straight over to the closet.

"Hmm, These are Ciera's clothes." He shut the closet and moved over to the other one and opened it, happy to see men's clothing within.

About 2 minutes later, Amawa Hibiki realized something he found very annoying. He was a lot taller than his brother than he had realized. The pants he had just pulled on were a few sizes too short. They rose up above his ankles while standing, and Amawa had a feeling they'd reach mid shin if he sat down. The dress shirt sleeve also ended far sooner on his arm than it should have. If he showed up to a job interview like this, He'd look comical. His brother's T-shirt and shorts would probably fit fine, but he somehow doubted that he'd be taken very seriously if he looked like he just got home from a Hawaiian vacation.

* * *

Principal Kuno sneezed again and wiped his nose. He took another swig of cold medicine, just in case.

* * *

"Ah man, this is a disaster!" Amawa shouted, "All my clothes are ruined and Dan's clothes don't fit. Damn him for being shorter than me!" Amawa glanced around the room again, hoping to find something he could wear. If only he wasn't so tall!

Amawa froze at that thought, a cold sweat running down his spine as he stood up straight and turned around. It seemed he hadn't shut the door to Ciera's closet all the way. He could see some of the clothes that were in there.

"No. I can't." Amawa muttered, shutting the door. He stripped out of the ill fitting clothing and pulled on a T-shirt and a pair of jean shorts that were in Dan's closet before examining himself in the mirror. He looked like a tourist. No self respecting Principal would give him a second thought.

Amawa heard a door groaning and looked towards it. Damn that closet! The bolt was faulty or something! With it hanging open again, Amawa could clearly see several respectable looking outfits. Ciera even had a skirt suit hanging neatly in the closet, looking freshly ironed.

"I'll just buy new clothes on the way to the school. No problem." It was then that Amawa remembered he had no money, especially not enough to afford a nice set of clothing. And he wasn't about to search the house for cash. Besides, He knew from personal experience that Dan kept all his money in the bank or on his body, and he doubted Ciera would stash funds in a house she frequented once a month, tops. In order to get money, he'd need to get a job. But to get a job...

"I hate Karma." Amawa complained, tears running from his eyes.

* * *

Nabiki's week thus far had been, simply to say, dull. She hadn't gotten any decent yen in from picture sales and it was getting harder to scam Ranma out of money recently. She needed some new material, something that would case the cash to roll in en masse. And Nabiki was fairly certain she knew just how to do it.

She smirked as she kept her pace to school, a large bag hanging on her arm, containing her weapon of choice. She had spent almost all her remaining funds on it, but it had been worth it. The camcorder she was now carrying around would be her ticket to a whole new world of money. If Kuno had been happy with simple photos of his beloved redhead, just wait until he got her complete with motion and sound. Sure the tapes were a lot more expensive than film was, but she could always sell them at an inflated price. Oh yes, she had big plans for this.

"Let's see, I could start by taping some of Ranma's fights. The girls will buy it for the beefcake and the guys will want to see the action. Maybe I could even sell some copies to a few of his enemy to study his style with. There's sure to be some cash in that." Nabiki was thinking out loud, a nasty habit she really needed to kick. Especially since she had just run into the topic of her musings. And judging from the way he was looking at her, he wasn't too happy with her attitude.

"If I didn't know better I'd say you were plotting against me, Nabiki. But you'd never do that, would you?" The sarcasm was clear in Ranma's voice, as well as the threat that was implied. Nabiki rose an eyebrow but kept her cool. Ranma was playing tough guy with her. She had to admit, he was really good at being intimidating, but she knew better than to be afraid of him.

"Now Ranma, what ever gave you that idea? I'm just trying to make a little money on the side, you know." Nabiki said in an innocent tone. She pulled out her camera and turned it on, pointing it at the pigtailed boy in the process.

"You could always pay me to leave you alone, Ranma." Nabiki was watching Ranma through the viewfinder, however it seemed the camera speed was a bit too slow to catch his next moment. Before she had really realized it Ranma had snatched the Camera out of her hands and was now holding it in his palm, looking ready to crush it between his fingers.

All humor in Nabiki's voice was gone in an instant. She glared at Ranma with the coldest look she could manage. A lesser man would have flinched under the assault, but Ranma stood his ground.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Saotome?" Nabiki demanded. She left no room for question or delay. It was a tone that required a straight answer.

"I don't really care what you do to make money, Nabiki. You could sell your body to Kuno and I wouldn't bat an eye. However, you're going to leave me out of it. Understand?" Ranma wasn't about to take any crap from her either. He took her icy glare and returned it a thousand fold. It took all of Nabiki's will power not to waver under his look. Ranma had a glare that could outdo a demon, and the fact he had the chi capability to make his body glow menacingly didn't do anything to detract from it.

Nabiki wasn't stupid. She knew a threat when she saw one. However, just who was making this threat caused her to hesitate in using her better judgment. This was Ranma. He'd sooner break his own arm than raise his hand against someone who couldn't defend themselves. But he left little room to second guess his meaning. He was threatening her with bodily harm, openly. Something was up, and Nabiki wanted to know what.

"All I understand, Saotome, is that you are holding a 50,000 yen piece of equipment in your hand. And if you do anything to cause harm to it, I'll make you regret it until the day you die." Nabiki said. Then she blinked. By the time she had opened her eyes again, it was already over. Her head was throbbing and her back ached from her jarring impact with the brick wall. She was able to ignore both of these rather easily in favor of the iron grip Ranma had on her neck.

"Don't you mean until the day _you_ die, Nabiki? The way I see it, that one's gonna happen a hell of a lot sooner." Ranma punctuated this sentence by tightening his grip on Nabiki's neck ever so slightly. Nabiki was far too surprised by this turn of events to offer any kind of resistance. She could only stare with wide eyes as Ranma choked the life out of her with the greatest of ease.

And then suddenly, she was on her knees and coughing to regain her breath. He had let go. She didn't know why, but he had. She heard a plastic click as Ranma set the camera down on the ground nearby before kneeling in front of her to see her eye to eye.

"You've got spunk, Nabiki. I like that in a woman. However, there's a fine line between spunky and annoying. You very nearly crossed that line today, Nabiki, and you nearly died because of it. I suggest you keep that in mind the next time you decide to cross me." As he finished talking, Ranma merely smirked at her. He didn't even stand back up. He just continued to sit on his knees and smirk in her face. Nabiki was coherent enough to glare at him, but that just made him smirk even more.

And then, he kissed her. It came out of no where. One second he was just sitting there and smirking at her and the next he leaned in and slipped her the tongue. Before she could even form a coherent response to this, he was on his feet and off in the direction of the school.

"See you at school, Nabiki." Ranma said over his shoulder, leaving Nabiki alone on the sidewalk red in the face. She couldn't tell whether she wanted to scream or cry or both. That bastard! How dare he do that to her! She had never wanted to break something this much in all her life. It was at that point that Nabiki remembered the camera and found it lying on the sidewalk nearby, pointing right at her. She scooped it up quickly and examined it for damage, happy to find it had come out unscathed. However, upon closer inspection, Nabiki realized it was recording. She quickly switched the camcorder from 'record' to 'play' and rewound the tape, going just far enough to witness Ranma leaning in to kiss her. In fact, just before he made his move, she saw him glance right at the camera.

"Oh dear god. He caught the whole thing. He did that intentionally." Nabiki muttered in horror, thinking this over as the tape kept playing. She thought she might be able to blackmail him with it, but shot that idea down real fast. She knew of no less than 3 woman who would kill her in their sleep if they saw this tape, no questions asked. She wasn't going to show this to a soul.

"Oh jeez, I'm blushing like a lovesick school girl." Nabiki muttered in disgust, watching her sit on the sidewalk like a dead fish with a severe blush on her face. She shut the camera off and stowed it back into it's carrying case. She was going to take a small detour on her way to school today. She needed time to think up a fitting vengeance.

* * *

"You know, I was kinda hoping you'd stay behind and run the restaurant while I was at school today..." Ukyo complained, looking over her shoulder at Konatsu. The kunoichi had decided to follow her to school today, for reasons she couldn't understand.

"You're in no condition to be traveling, Ukyo-sama. I'm coming along to make sure you can arrive safely." Konatsu explained, for what had to be the 5th time. Ukyo complained too much about the simplest things.

"Then why is Ryoga coming?" Ukyo asked, pointing to the lost boy in question.

"I didn't want to get locked in the Ucchan's. I had to follow you." Ryoga shrugged. If it wasn't for the fact he had accidentally left the Mercury Computer on his nightstand that morning, he'd be playing tetris at the moment. So much time wasted...

"Eh? What'd going on here?" Ukyo stopped at the gates to Furinkan High, staring in shock as she watched Ranma beating the crap out of two younger students. From the looks of it, he was stealing their lunch money. It was such an un-Ranma thing to do. Ukyo couldn't even formulate a coherent response to seeing it.

"Ranma! What the hell do you think you're doing?" Akane came storming from across the field towards the pigtailed boy's position, looking quite angry by his current actions.

"Back off, bitch. I'm busy." Ranma growled, still holding one of the boys up by his collar. Everyone within hearing range seemed to freeze when Ranma said that. Akane was glowing a bright red as she pulled out her mallet, looking far angrier than she ever had.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" The mallet swung with the force of a wrecking ball straight for Ranma's head, having all of Akane's impressive aura behind it. However, Ranma wasn't about to stand for it. He released the collar of the boy he had been holding and brought up his hand, catching the mallet and cracking the head of it in the process.

"I said..." Ranma muttered, making a fist with his free hand. Akane was too shocked to noticed. "I'm busy!"

WHAM!

"You are going to regret that." Ryoga growled, squeezing Ranma's fist a little. Ryoga had caught the punch and stopped it dead; Much to Akane's surprise, as his hand was only a few inches from her face. With a yell the Hibiki boy buried his fist into Ranma's abdomen, releasing his hand and letting the pigtailed boy sail backwards from the punch.

"Are you okay, Akane-san?" Ryoga asked with concern. The girl seemed to be a bit out of it, but she looked okay.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Akane replied. Ryoga simply nodded and looked back in Ranma's direction. Good, he was already standing up. That meant Ryoga could knock him down again.

"Ranma, how dare you try to hurt Akane!" He shouted, rushing the pigtailed boy and lashing out with a fierce punch. Ranma swayed to the side and flared his aura before letting loose an attack of his own. Ryoga grunted in pain as his abdomen seemed to explode. When the hell did Ranma get that kind of raw power?

"It was a mistake to attack me, Ryoga!" Ranma growled, kicking him in the chest and hurling the lost boy back. Ryoga struggled back to his feet, watching as Ranma flared his aura again.

'What's going on? His aura is way off. It almost seems polluted.' Ryoga thought, watching as Ranma's energy level got higher and higher. This was bad, it looked like he was preparing the mother of all Mouku Takabishas. Ryoga returned to his feet with a grunt and began to flare his own aura, bringing his energy to bare.

-elsewhere-

Nephrite's eyes snapped open as he felt the intense spike in energy.

"The energy level has peaked! Go, Lunos!"

* * *

Ranma's smirk died on his face as a bizarre character began to glow from under his shirt. A shadow seemed to erupt from the pendant he was wearing as Ranma's body was cast in a dark light. All of his chi was being drained at a rapid rate as the Youma began to take shape.

'Ranma was possessed by a Youma?' Ryoga thought, forcing his aura between his palms as a single tear fell from his eye.

"SHISHI HOKODAN!" He cried out, hoping to catch the youma with the brilliant blue/green beam of energy. Just as the youma fully formed it leapt out of the path of the beam, leaving Ranma's body behind to take the full force of it. He hadn't even been able to fully drop his arms after the attack before the Youma had gotten in his face. Much to his surprise, she bore a striking resemblance to Sailor moon. The only things that set her apart were a change in color, black and red instead of white and blue, and a slightly paler complexion. Plus her hair was blonde, not red.

"What the..." Ryoga wasn't allowed to finish his sentence as she punched him in the face with all she had. Of course, the pseudo moon was gravely disappointed when he only stumbled a little, rather than getting hurled back.

"Tch. You were better off staying in Ranma. He was a lot stronger!" Ryoga struck the youma in the abdomen with all his power, much to her chagrin. She shot back like a bullet and nearly tore the tree she hit out of the ground with her impact. Judging from the way she was moving, that punch had hurt. Which meant this Youma was different from all the other ones. Ryoga could actually hurt her with his fists. He didn't have a reason to transform!

"Dark Moon Beam!" Ryoga's world was filled with pain. The clone had touched the tiara on her head and fired an intense beam of energy from the black jewel on it, striking Ryoga dead in the chest and dragging him back from it. His was burning with an intense agony as the beam drilled into him. It had punctured his shirt and was working its way through his sternum by the time he tore through the PE equipment shed and finally stopped moving.

'W...What the hell was that?' Ryoga thought, struggling to get back to his feet and failing miserably. That blast had hurt more than anything Ryoga had ever experienced. He honestly felt like crying after getting hit by that. Maybe fighting her was a bad idea. Her punches didn't hurt much, but he really didn't want to get hit by another one of those beams.

"Fire Soul!"

"Dark Moon Beam!" Ryoga flinched in sympathy when he heard Konatsu enter, and quickly leave, the fight. This was followed by Konatsu entering the PE shed in a big hurry, hitting Ryoga head on and dragging the both of them out of the back of the shed and through the barrier wall on the other side of it.

"Come on, Ryoga. Get up. I need some help with this girl." Ryoga glanced up at sailor mars, astounded by the fact she could still stand after getting nailed head on by the attack. In fact, her stupid fuku wasn't even scratched.

Oh god. It couldn't be. The stupid outfit was resistant to magic attacks?

"Hurry up and transform already!" Mars said harshly before running back through the PE shed and getting back into the fight.

Ryoga sighed. "I should have expected something like this," He muttered, just as his pen slipped out of his sleeve and into his hand, "Mercury Power, Make up."

* * *

Konatsu was not having an easy time with this Youma. For one thing, it was a hell of a lot stronger than she was. For another, those beams really freaking hurt when they hit. Not to mention she was fighting remarkably similar to Ranma, which sure as hell didn't help anything.

'what I would give for some Toushintan right now...' Konatsu thought, catching a punch aimed at her face and hurling the Youma towards the school building in a single movement.

"FIRE SOUL!" She cried out, hurling the blast of flames at her target.

"Dark Moon Beam!" Once again, she fired her beam attack in response, piercing straight through the fire and causing it to dissipate in the process. The beam kept going strong though, and bore a hole straight through a tree as Konatsu leapt out of the way.

'Damn it, Ryoga. Where the hell are you?' she thought, leaping towards the Youma in a spinning kick that was blocked with a forearm.

"Bubble Spray!" Konatsu sighed in relief when the mist sprung into existence, happy to see mercury flying out of the fog and nailing the Youma in the head with a hook kick, sending it flying off into the mist.

"Have you hit it with your fire yet?" Mercury asked, spotting the Youma wandering aimlessly through the mist. Mars shook her head in the negative, also locking eyes with the youma.

"Alright. Ranma's out of it and my magic sucks, so you're gonna have to kill this thing. I'll keep it distracted and you torch it." Ryoga didn't wait for Konatsu's response before rushing the Youma. She was still angry about getting blasted earlier, and she had every intention of taking her frustrations out on the Youma's skull.

"Where did you go?" The youma growled out, looking back and forth through the mist.

"Right here!" Ryoga descended like a vengeful beast, slamming both her fists into the Youma's head with a mighty hammer blow. The Youma hit the ground so hard the cement cracked, but Ryoga wasn't done yet. She brought the heel of her boot down into the lower back of the youma, tearing her fuku and earning a cry of pain from the monster girl. Before Ryoga could hit her again she rolled over and took aim.

"Dark Moon Beam!" Ryoga cried out as the beam nailed her right below the breast line, just missing the bow tied there. However, this placed the blast right in her Solar Plexus. Ryoga was sent flying back with the wind knocked out of her lungs, landing hard a few feet away and gasping for breath. She noticed two things at that point. 1: That had hurt a lot less than the first time. 2: She was really fucking pissed off, now. As she rose to her feet, Ryoga concentrated as hard as she could on all the depressing thoughts she had. Her current gender was pretty high on that list. Not to mention the way this fuku hugged her body like a second skin, or the incredible embarrassment of walking around in such a short skirt, or the fact that she felt dirty simply walking around in public like this.

"DIE!" The youma screamed, appearing behind Ryoga with her fist cocked back. It noticed too late the mistake it had made. As soon as it saw the intense blue/green glow coming from Ryoga's eyes, the youma could sense its end was near.

"Sai Dai Kyu..." Ryoga whispered, a few tears falling from her glowing eyes, "...Shishi Hokodan." the eruption of power was unseen through the mist, however its return to earth eradicated the fog. All the spectators that had been trying to peer through the fog were hurled to the ground by an unseen explosive force as the mist was blown away. When the blast ended, they could clearly see Mercury standing in the center of a crater, staring down at the unmoving form of the Youma within.

"It's all yours." Mercury said simply, climbing out of the crater as mars charged up her attack.

"Fire Soul!"

* * *

"Ranma was possessed by a demon, eh?" Nabiki asked, staring incredulously across the table at the pigtailed boy. That would explain his odd behavior, but if he thought he was going to get away with kissing her because of that he was dead wrong. Oh yes, Nabiki was going to make his life a living hell for the next few weeks.

"I was not! I think I'd remember something like that." Ranma complained, digging into his dinner angrily. He couldn't understand why everyone had been telling him that all day.

"Come on, Ranma! You still think it's yesterday! You were possessed, admit it!" Akane shouted.

"There ain't no way, you uncute tomboy! I'm not stupid enough to get possessed." Ranma shot back.

"Oh really? Then I guess you said this of your own free will." Nabiki pulled out her camcorder and hit play. Instantly, the sound of Ranma assaulting some students for their lunch money came out of the recorder.

Ranma: Cough up your cash or die.

Boy: I...I don't have any m...money!

Akane: Ranma! What the hell do you think you're doing?

Ranma: Back off, bitch. I'm busy.

Ranma choked on his food. Both Genma and Soun immediately stopped eating and glared at Ranma while Kasumi gasped in shock.

"I never said that, it's someone else!" Ranma shouted, pointing at the offending video camera.

"It's a camcorder, Ranma. I have you on video." Nabiki said, rolling her eyes. She flipped out the small viewing screen for all to see as she rewound the video.

Ranma: Back off, bitch. I'm busy.

(rewind)

Ranma: Back off, bitch. I'm busy.

(rewind)

Ranma: Back off, bitch. I'm busy.

Ranma went as white as a sheet as he saw himself addressing Akane on the screen. There was no denying this hard evidence.

"RANMA! HOW DARE YOU ADDRESS YOUR FIANCEE LIKE THAT!" Both father's bellowed in unison, nearly knocking the table over as they got up and pounced at the pigtailed martial artist.

"No! Wait! Stop! I was possessed, I swear!" Nabiki could only chuckle as she put her camera away to the sounds of their fathers trying to catch Ranma. Oh yes, she was going to enjoy tormenting him.

* * *

To be Continued.

Ryo-Wolf


	6. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma, though I'd figure that that's a given. I also don't own Sailor moon, though if you thought I did you have mental problems. As for the many other series I've crossed with, I don't own those either.

* * *

Nephrite gazed into the astronomical map projected across the ceiling of the large mansion he stood within. This was his domain. The conduit between the heavens and the earth, a means of contacting the stars. This is where the General spent the majority of his time as of late, trying to develop a new plan.

"Jadeite was a fool. His pride got in the way of his mission. He wanted to destroy the Senshi more than he wanted to collect energy, thus all his plans failed." Nephrite was looking at a map of Japan he had placed on the wall. Next to it was a map of Tokyo, showing all the different districts. Upon it he had placed a large number of tacks, each one representing a Senshi sighting.

"Jadeite localized all his operations here, in the Nerima district, where the majority of Senshi sightings have been found. There are also a few in the districts directly connecting to Nerima, but the further one gets from there, the less frequent it becomes. Because of this, I have reason to believe the Senshi are based in Nerima." Nephrite was talking to himself, as no one else was in the room to hear this briefing. However, he found it easier to think when he did it aloud, and there was no one to disturb him here.

"From what the stars have told me, there are potential targets all throughout Japan. If I strike somewhere further from Nerima, I have a greater chance of success." Nephrite was grinning now. Now all he needed to do was choose a target, and he'd be set.

* * *

Bishonen Senshi Sailor Moon

Chapter 5

Ryoga's Vacation

* * *

Amawa sighed a bit to himself and looked at his watch. He had spent a lot of time debating with himself before finally deciding to take a chance on the T-shirt and shorts. It was either this or come to the interview as a woman, and he'd rather avoid that at all costs.

"I hope this principal isn't the uptight type." Amawa sighed again before walking into the school building. He had already steeled his resolve to come here, he wasn't going to back down now!

"Excuse me, do you know where the principal's office is?" Amawa asked, having stopped a teacher walking through the hall.

"I'm sorry, I don't know where it is." The elderly man responded. He seemed generally at a loss.

"Oh, are you new here as well?" Well, at least he wasn't the only new teacher around.

"No, I've been here for six years." Amawa face faulted at that.

"S...Six years? And you don't know where the principal's office is?" What was with this guy, was he senile? How could he not know where the principal was after six years?

"Oh yes. The principal is a bit of a loon, you see. He moves his office around constantly. A while back, it was in the basement. But then I heard he moved it to the roof. Oh, just last week he was in the janitor's closet. You could look there, if you want."

"A...loon...you say?" Amawa asked nervously. That certainly didn't sound good...

"Yes, quite eccentric. He's an obsessive fan of Hawaiian culture. Even styles his hair to look like a palm tree." Amawa was dreading the meeting with this principal the more he heard about him. At least the Hawaiian T-shirt and shorts he was wearing would be welcomed...

"Well, if you really want to talk with the principal, you could speak to the vice principal. She should know where he is. Her office is on the fifth floor." Amawa thanked the aging teacher and went on his way. This was starting to sound like it was more trouble than it was worth.

* * *

"Personally, I think Mars is the best. Did you see the way she was fighting that youma yesterday?"

"Mars? No way, Mercury is definitely better! Weren't you at the carnival?"

"Mars did some damage at the carnival too. She torched that crazy guy."

"Yeah, along with the rest of the carnival. If it wasn't for Mercury, it would have burnt to the ground."

Ranma groaned as he listened to the two girls go back and forth. He was leaning back in his seat, balancing a pen on his nose while trying to stay on two legs. How the hell did he get dragged into this stupid discussion anyway?

'Oh yeah, Nabiki.' Ranma thought. She had been on his case all week. For some reason, she was out to get him recently. So when Yuka and Sayuri went to her for information on the sailor Senshi, she of course directed the two to Ranma.

'Damn Nabiki. I nearly had a heart attack when they asked me who the Senshi were.' Ranma thought, still zoning out the discussion between the two. They had luckily been too busy discussing amongst themselves to ask him anything.

"Hey Ranma, what do you think?" One of the two suddenly asked him, causing Ranma to fall over.

"Eh, what?" He got back to his feet and picked his chair up, seeing Akane's two friends looking at him curiously.

"Which Sailor Senshi do you think is the coolest?" Sayuri asked as Ranma sat back down.

"Sailor Moon, no contest. The other two can't even compare to her." Ranma bragged. Sayuri rolled her eyes and Yuka scoffed; both gestures feeling like knives in Ranma's back.

"Oh Come on, Sailor moon is lame." Ranma flinched at Sayuri's words.

"Yeah. Even Mars is better than her." Yuka's comment made Ranma wince as if he'd been slapped.

"She didn't even show up to fight that monster from yesterday." Another wince.

"And Mercury did most of the work at the carnival." Ranma's ego was reeling at this point.

"Mars' magic attack is much cooler too." Sayuri went for a low blow. Ranma's ego was on the ropes now. Everything was becoming a blur.

"Besides, she isn't even all that good looking. Both Mercury and Mars have her beat there." And Ranma's Ego takes a Haymaker to the face! It's all over folks, Ranma's Ego is down! The ref has already started the countdown!

"That's a lie!" Ranma suddenly shouted, slapping the desk with both hands. "Moon was the first one! The other two are just her lackeys. She's a way better fighter than both of them combined. Mercury's magic is so lame she can't even kill a youma on her own and Mars burns everything with hers. Hell, she's a Pyromaniac!" Ranma was red faced from annoyance and from shouting, but he was starting to calm down. Both girls looked at him a little surprised, but seemed to be accepting what he said.

"You do have a point." Ranma's Ego is back on its feet folks! I don't believe it!

"However, I still think she looks stupid in her outfit. Mercury and Mars fill it out much better." The Ego is down again! He didn't see that left hook coming! Oh the humanity!

"Oh come on, Moon is way cuter than the other two. She's way more beautiful, and she's got bigger breasts to boot." Ranma boasted, closing his eyes as if he were trying to picture her in his mind.

"There's Akane..." Sayuri began, but was cut off by Ranma.

"Yeah right, Moon is way sexier than that uncute tomboy." Ranma suddenly blurted out.

"No, I didn't mean..."

"She's built like a marshmallow compared to Sailor Moon." Ranma opened his eyes as he said this, starting to gesture with his hands.

"Ranma, I..." Sayuri tried to speak again, but Ranma was on a roll.

"Sailor Moon has Akane beat in every way. She's cuter, smarter, better at martial arts. Hell, Akane's such a gorilla that she doesn't even hold a candle to Sailor Moon." Ranma looked like he was trying not to laugh as he spoke. He was having such fun, he almost didn't notice the way the room was getting hotter. Kinda funny that it was doing that. Sayuri looked like a deer staring down an oncoming train, and Yuka had a facial expression on par with The Scream.

"What's with you two?" Ranma asked, ignorant of the situation.

"Rannnnmaaaa..." Ranma's blood honestly turned to ice and started flowing backwards when he heard the inhuman growl that had just spoken his name. Every hair on his body stood on end and a good portion of it turned gray in that instant. If he didn't know any better, he'd say he just lost 10 years off his life from the amount of fright that just went through him.

"She's...right behind me...isn't she?" Ranma asked, seeing Sayuri and Yuki nod their head's slowly as they ever so subtly starting inching away from Ranma. For his part, Ranma did manage a sigh before the blow came.

* * *

"Ah, so you mus' be da brodda dat wan' da job as gym teacha, ya?" Amawa's eye was twitching as he sat across from the principal. This man was...unbelievable. The mental picture he had from what the old teacher had told him didn't compare at all to the real deal. And the way he talked...

'How does a native Japanese man have such a thick Hawaiian accent? It makes no sense.' Amawa thought to himself.

"So, do you be havin' any experience?" He asked, still in a heavy accent. That accent was starting to annoy him.

"Uh, yes. I recently graduated from college and I've worked a few months at Seito Sannomiya." The principal raised an eyebrow at Amawa's answer.

"Seito Sannomiya? Dat's a waihine school. Dey don' hire no brodda's der." The principal answered, a grim frown on his face that was slowing turning into a smirk. "Unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Yo dat brodda dat tinks he's a sista! Amawa Hibiki, ya?" Amawa sighed. Great. He had a reputation.

"Yes, I'm Amawa Hibiki, but all that stuff with Seito Sannomiya was a big misunderstanding." The principal was looking at him with an eyebrow raised again. It seems he was considering Amawa's remark. Either that, or he was thinking about pineapples. There did seem to be an awful lot of pineapples lying around in his office.

"Misundastandin'?" The principal muttered to himself, getting out of his chair and facing the window.

Splash!

"Cough. Cough. What the hell..." Amawa brushed the water out of her eyes and coughed up a bit of the liquid that had flown into her nostrils and down her throat. What was the principal thinking, throwing water in her face like that?

"Ah! So dat's what cha meant! You got da same problem as Ranma Saotome!" Principal Kuno laughed. He stopped suddenly, a mischievous look crossing his face suddenly.

"Dis is perfect, yeah? You kin' teach da broddas as a brodda, an' da sistas as a sista!" The principal laughed, sitting back in his chair. "You're hired! Now, I jus' goan' git' a keiki to show you around da campus, yeah?" Right at that moment, the floor shuddered as Ranma shot through it, hitting the ceiling with enough force to crack the sheet rock before falling back down and landing on the floor, near the hole he entered through.

"Ah, Ranma Saotome, perfect timing keiki! You kin' escort da new teacha around campus, since you injured da last one." The principal said. Ranma groaned and got to his feet, complaining to himself about uncute fiancées.

"Yeah, sure." He mumbled. Man, Akane had really clobbered him. He just took the express route up to the fifth floor.

"Say..." Amawa spoke up, "Since I'm technically working two jobs, can I get two paychecks?"

"HA HA HA! You funny, yeah?" The principal laughed, slapping his desk a few times. Then, without warning, he sobered up and glared at Amawa from behind his sunglasses, frowning angrily. "Get the hell out of my office."

* * *

Ryoga grunted with effort as he continued his exercise, moving through his backyard as swiftly and efficiently as he could. The weather wasn't exactly warm, however the intense activity had already worked him up into a sweat. His shirt had already been discarded and the undershirt he was wearing was rapidly becoming damper by the minute. Pretty soon, He'd probably just toss that, too.

Though his body vigorously went through the movements, his mind was wandering to other topics. He had had the dream again last night, which only annoyed him even more. There was something about it that just felt weird about it. Out of all the dreams he could remember having in the past week, that dream was always the most vivid.

Ryoga leapt into a flip, twisting around in midair and bringing his weapon to bear against the ground. He had lost his umbrella again, so he was improvising with an old iron pole he had found in the basement. With sweat falling down his back like a river, Ryoga continued to fight his shadow. He had the sudden urge to practice shortly after waking up that morning, realizing that he had been forgoing his training in favor of Tetris. He was making up for that mistake now, pushing himself as far as his body would allow, then stepping over that line and going even farther. He wasn't quite sure how long he'd been training, but it had to be several hours, considering how high the sun already was.

Ryoga dodged another blow from the nonexistent opponent, spinning into devastating backslash with the iron pole, putting all the strength he had behind that single blow. Breathing heavily, Ryoga lowered his arm and brushed the sweat off his face with his other hand. At least his bandana had done its job of keeping the sweat out of his eyes.

Ryoga heard clapping and turned around, seeing Konatsu sitting on the barrier wall. He almost choked on his own spit when he saw what she was wearing. It looked like it had once been a kunoichi outfit she usually wore, only altered to be a million times more risqué. The top had been modified to show off some of Konatsu's cleavage while the sleeves and pants were totally removed. She still sported her ninja arm guards and wrappings and it appeared she was still wearing a fishnet shirt underneath her garments. She was also now sporting thigh high white stockings as well as her usual shin wraps and sandals. She now wore a skirt instead of pants, however it was cut up to her waist on both sides. The whole outfit was red and white, and Ryoga was pretty sure her panties were the same. She was sitting in such a way that he could barely see them. Not that he was looking, or anything.

"Why is your nose bleeding?" Konatsu asked, causing Ryoga to blush and turn away from the kunoichi, wiping his nose.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" He lied. "What are you doing here, anyway?" Apparently, Konatsu had decided to throw all caution to the wind and let the entire damn world know he was now all woman. Not even the greatest of cross dressers could have pulled off that outfit. He briefly wondered how the hell Konatsu had gotten out of the Ucchan's without Ukyo noticing her obvious gender.

"Well, I was trying on this outfit and Ukyo walked in. I'm pretty sure she knows I'm a woman now, considering she screamed and threw me out the window." Konatsu explained, hoping off the wall and stretching a bit. "I figured I should let her cool off for A while, and I have no where else to go." Well, that explained it. Konatsu _didn't_ make it out without Ukyo noticing. So much for that. Ryoga peeled his undershirt off and tossed it onto the back porch with the rest of his things, switching the iron pole to his off-hand in the process. His right arm felt numb from the workout, but he hadn't been using his left much.

"I'm surprised you aren't playing Tetris." Konatsu spoke up, apparently not liking the awkward silence.

"I beat it." Ryoga stretched a little before getting back into his exercise, attacking and defending against an invisible opponent with the iron pole.

"You beat Tetris?" Konatsu asked. Ryoga had no response. He was too engrossed in what he was doing. Konatsu wasn't very experienced in video games. In fact, she'd never really had the chance to play one. Her stepsisters played a lot of them though, and from what she could remember, Tetris wasn't the kind of game that was beatable.

Konatsu moved out of the yard and towards the house. She hated being bored. Konatsu wasn't accustomed to boredom. When you're raised as a personal slave to your evil siblings, you always have something to do. The kunoichi leaned against the wall of the house, watching Ryoga perform his exercise. That kept her busy for a little while, at least. There was something about the way the sweat was trailing across his firm, well sculpted abdomen that Konatsu found almost hypnotic. And his hard, muscular arms would catch her eye as he moved and struck with precision. Since when had Ryoga looked so...appealing?

Konatsu was fidgeting now, the annoyance of boredom setting in fully. Just standing there wasn't working, she had to do something.

"Want to spar, Ryoga?" Stopping in mid swing, Ryoga turned to see Konatsu was already coming at him with clear intent to attack. He didn't mind much. Fighting a real person was always better than fighting no one.

* * *

Ukyo was in the middle of cooking up a storm, lost entirely to her work as she mixed ingredients into culinary art. Cooking was the only constant in Ukyo's life. Cooking never changed, it didn't differ and it never strayed from the expected. With cooking, Ukyo could relax her nerves and focus her mind, confident in her skills to take her where she needed to go. It cleared her mind, helped her think. While most martial artists would likely practice a kata or meditate, Ukyo would cook. It just worked so much better for her.

Due to recent events, she had a lot to think about. The most important thing was Konatsu, and what she had seen the kunoichi doing earlier that day. Now, Konatsu had always had a surprisingly girly figure for a boy. So much so, that from behind he could pass for female, even when wearing nothing but a pair of shorts. He could pull off a variety of female clothes that would be impossible for the typical cross dresser. Not even Tsubasa could pull off some of the outfits Ukyo had seen Konatsu wearing. Even Konatsu had his limits though. And there were just some things that a man just can't manage.

'He had cleavage for god sakes...' Ukyo thought to herself, pouring another spoonful of batter onto the grill. Cleavage was not the kind of thing that could be faked. Not even fake breasts could pull off the effect. You either had it, or you didn't. Apparently, Konatsu had it. And that was definitely a new addition.

'I don't know why I'm getting so worked up over this. Ranma magically turns into a girl all the time. So why should it be any different with Konatsu?' Ukyo thought. Why was it so disturbing to see Konatsu as a girl and perfectly okay with Ranma? The only reason she could think of was because Ranma didn't like it. Konatsu clearly did.

"Well, to be fair, if I had seen Ranma dressed like that, I'd probably have punted him out the window too..." Ukyo muttered to herself. A few seconds later, the door of the Ucchan's opened, revealing Ranma himself. 'well, speak of the devil...'

"Hi, Ranchan. Can I get you anything?" Ukyo asks enthusiastically, only to see Ranma's sullen face in response.

"Sure, Ucchan. I'll take a seaweed and pork." Ranma responded a little half heartedly. He wasn't really in the mood to talk. He was just hungry.

"Something wrong? You look like something's bothering you." Ukyo said with concern. Ranma looked up at her for a second, noticing that Ukyo looked pretty bothered herself.

"Yeah, so do you. Did something happen?" Ranma replied.

"I asked you first." Ukyo insisted, not wanting Ranma to change the subject.

"I'll only tell you if you tell me." Ranma replied, intent on doing just that.

"Alright, fine. But you're still going first." Ukyo kept cooking Ranma's okonomiyaki while the pigtailed boy sighed a bit. Great. He had been hoping to avoid the conversation completely. This was like asking for trouble...

"Shampoo refuses to talk to me. I tried to go into the Nekohanten and she kicked me in the face." Ranma said. Huh, so that's why Ranma's forehead was discolored. Ukyo had thought it looked kinda like a footprint.

"Why would she do something like that?" Ukyo asked, genuinely curious. She was also suspicious, since anything involving _her_ Ranma and Shampoo couldn't be good.

"Er...Hell if I know. How about you? What's bothering you?" Ranma quickly changed the subject. He wasn't stupid enough to tell Ukyo he ditched Shampoo in the middle of a date. She'd skin him alive.

"Well, this actually might surprise you a bit." Ukyo said. Ranma resisted the urge to scoff. Nothing surprised him. "I walked into Konatsu's room and saw him changing. And...well..." Ok, that was mildly surprising. "He's a girl, Ranma." Actually, that should be really surprising. He'd better fake it, or she'd be suspicious.

"GASP!" Ranma gasped loudly, grabbing his chest and falling out of his seat.

Ukyo blinked a few times before leveling a half lidded glare at Ranma. "Ranma..." Ukyo began, pointing at the pigtailed boy flailing around on the ground. "...Why are you pretending to have a seizure?" Uh oh, she saw through his brilliant theatrics.

"Er...I was aiming for heart attack, actually..." Ranma muttered, stopping his random flailing and getting back to his feet. Ukyo was looking at him suspiciously. Damn it!

"You know what happened to Konatsu! You jerk, fess up!" Ukyo shouted. Great, now he was going to have to explain what happened. How the hell was he going to get out of this one?

"Sorry Ukyo, I can't talk. Too busy eating." Ranma suddenly said, snatching the okonomiyaki off the grill and taking a sizable bite out of it.

"That's not finished yet, Ranma." Ukyo deadpanned, watching batter drip out of Ranma's mouth as he shoved the partially liquid okonomiyaki into his mouth.

"Thass awrigh. I plefew it siss ayy..." Ranma garbled out, power housing the disgusting, partially cooked piece of raw batter. Oh man, this tasted way worse than he thought it would.

"That's alright. I'll wait for you to finish before you explain yourself." Ukyo said simply, watching Ranma's eye twitch a few times. He was already resisting the urge to gag, now he had to eat slowly to give himself time to think. Great.

"Take your time, Ranma. Really, I can wait all day." Ukyo sat down on a stool and crossed her legs, watching Ranma chew the leaking chunk of batter intently. He glared at her before deciding to get it over with and just swallow the damn thing, happy it was over with. His stomach was protesting the intrusion. Oh shit, that wasn't good. His body, after being succumbed to so many bouts of Akane's cooking, had long since become accustomed to food poisoning. This was a play it had performed so often it had practically become a muscle memory. Air raid sirens went off in his intestines as everything moved into position. The stomach and esophagus started trading messages back and forth, quickly coming to an agreement on a clear course of action. Passageways became aligned, targets acquired. Somewhere in his gut, a cell was giving the thumbs up to its superior before hitting a large button labeled 'launch.'

Ranma gagged and bent over. Almost as quickly as it had gone down, the uncooked okonomiyaki came right back out and spilled all over Ukyo's floor. Huh, it actually tasted a little better coming up than going down. Probably had something to do with that soda he had during lunch.

"You're cleaning that up, you know." Ukyo said simply, pointing towards a mop and bucket she had leaning against a back wall. Ranma just looked at her and sighed, spitting a few times to get the bile out of his mouth before making a move for the mop.

* * *

Nephrite grinned to himself as he spotted his latest target. This was perfect. He was hardly the most powerful sources of human energy, but stealth was what Nephrite needed right now, not high turn outs. This boy was one of the first he had found that were far enough away from Nerima to drop the chances of Senshi interference to a minimum. Without the Senshi getting in the way, his energy was ripe for the picking. It didn't matter that he wasn't particularly powerful, it'd be enough to please Queen Beryl.

The boy in question was currently performing vertical push-ups one handed on a fence top. With his feet pointing into the air and his left hand folded firmly behind his back, He continuously lowered himself towards the fence until his nose practically touched the bar before pushing himself back up with only his right arm. He had short yellowish orange hair and was wearing the pants and shirt of his school uniform, his jacket currently resting on the side of a nearby bench.

Nephrite smirked before leaping towards the fence, landing on it with ease and shaking it just enough to surprise the boy.

"Hey, watch it!" He muttered, glancing up at the man briefly before returning to his exercise. The last thing he needed was to fall off the fence and land on his head.

"My apologies." Nephrite said simply, smirking down at the boy. "You are Seiji Sawamura, are you not?" Seiji stopped his exercise briefly, once again glancing up at Nephrite suspiciously.

"Who wants to know?" Seiji asked, pushing off the fence with his hand with enough force to get him airborne. With an awkward twist, Seiji was right side up and once again lands on the fence, briefly losing his balance and nearly falling off.

"My name is Masato Sanjoin. I'm just an eccentric martial arts coach." Nephrite remarked, watching Seiji wobble on the fence. "I had heard rumors of a great fighter in this area named Seiji Sawamura, but now I see you're just a delinquent brawler." Seiji growled a bit at that and clenched his fists.

"We'll see about that!" He shouted, launching a left punch towards Nephrite's face. The dark general caught the fist in one hand, raising an eyebrow slightly as he felt the impact. Nephrite didn't waste an instant to counter attack, taking Seiji's legs out from under him with a sweep before nailing him in the chest with a punch backed by his dark powers. Seiji gasped out in pain as he was hurled from the fence, landing roughly on the dirt ground several meters away. He clutched his chest in pain, glaring angrily at Nephrite from his position on the ground.

"You have potential, Sawamura-san, but you have much to learn." Nephrite chided, jumping to the ground and reaching for Seiji's jacket.

'my faithful youma...' Nephrite thought, willing his magic into the garment, 'possess the holder of this object and steal their energy!' a symbol appeared on the jacket suddenly before vanishing. As if nothing happened, Nephrite picked up the jacket and approached Seiji, who was just now getting to his feet.

"You have a lot of power behind your punches, however you aren't utilizing them properly. You need to control the path of your punch so that all your strength is transferred into your opponent, instead of wasting energy." As Nephrite finished speaking, he offered the jacket to Seiji.

"Seiji-kun!" A nearby female voice briefly distracts both Nephrite and Seiji, stopping the high school student before he could grab his jacket.

"Ah, Midori! What are you doing here?" Seiji asked, greeting the green haired girl as she arrived. Just as she got close to the two of them, a rock seemed to catch her foot, causing her to trip straight into Nephrite and send both of them to the ground.

"Ah! I'm so sorry!" Midori suddenly said, getting back to her feet and bowing to Nephrite, who was still getting back up. Midori moved towards the jacket suddenly, grabbing it before he could stop her. Nephrite silently cursed to himself as he saw the girl go rigid, signifying that she had been possessed.

'Foolish girl! I've no use for your energy!' Nephrite thought, getting back to his feet angrily.

"Oi, Midori. Are you alright? Midori?" Seiji said, looking at his girlfriend curiously. She looked disturbed, as if she had been electrocuted or something.

"It's too late now. Go, Clokise!" Nephrite shouted. Midori suddenly started screaming. A dark shadow appeared from the jacket and Midori was cast in a dark light, all her energy being rapidly depleted.

"Midori!" Seiji shouted, watching in horror as a cloaked female youma materialized over the body of his downed girlfriend. Seiji turned on Nephrite with a glare, clearly pissed by this turn of events.

"Masato Sanjoin...What did you do to Midori?" Seiji growled out, his knuckles turning white. Nephrite merely chuckled, smirking at Seiji evilly.

"I'm afraid you have other problems to attend to. Clokise, Steal this boy's energy!" Nephrite commanded.

"Yes, master!" The youma answered, rushing forward suddenly and burying her fist into Seiji's gut. The boy grunted as he was tossed back from the impact, hitting the ground heavily once again. Seiji growled a little as he got to his feet, spotting the unmoving body of Midori lying behind the Youma.

"You want my energy?" Seiji grunted, getting to his feet and clenching his fists. "You're going to have to take it then!" With that, he was off like a bullet, rushing the Youma with his left fist cocked back and ready to punch.

* * *

After the morning workout with Konatsu, Ryoga had set out towards the Tendo Dojo, deciding it was about time he get even with Ranma for infecting him with those stupid dreams. Of course, he had promptly gotten lost, leaving him to his aimless meandering through yet another wooded area. In his hands was the Mercury computer, however for once he wasn't playing Tetris. He had been fiddling with it all day, trying to see what else it was capable of that wasn't Tetris. After playing Breakout and Pong for a few hours he returned to fiddling with the more useful features. So far, he'd been playing around with the mapping system for the better part of the day.

"Stupid thing can't give directions worth a damn..." Ryoga muttered, walking down a new path only to have the computer beep once again, signifying that it had to recalibrate. It could never give him directions for more than a few moments before it said it had to recalibrate. It was becoming incredibly annoying. It finished its calibration and told him to take a left, at which point Ryoga immediately turned right.

A new beeping noise suddenly went off, sounding suspiciously like a victory tune. "That's new." Ryoga muttered, looking at the screen.

"_**Transportation Method Identified." **_The computer suddenly said, the map it had previously been showing replaced by a picture of a small humanoid woman in a blue lab coat giving him a thumbs up. Ryoga scratched his head at this, not entirely sure what to make of it. Transportation method? It took it this long to figure out he was walking?

"_**Updating Mapping System And Directional Protocol. Please Wait..." **_The computer spoke again, now showing the same woman tapping her foot and glaring at her watch. There was also a progress bar directly below the woman, which was slowly moving from the left side of the screen to the right side. With an audible 'ding,' the bar finished loading, and the small woman was once again giving Ryoga a thumbs up.

"_**Update Completed. Mapping System Now Configured To Armorian Terranautic Translocation." **_The computer said before the screen went blank. Ryoga was now downright confused. He had no freaking clue what that was supposed to mean, but it sure sounded confusing. The screen suddenly lit up again, showing a simple text box.

'Where do you want to go today?' it read, followed by instructions telling Ryoga to speak his destination out loud. He blinked a few times before shrugging, figuring he might as well try it out.

"Tendo Dojo." Ryoga said aloud, triggering the computer again as the text box was once again replaced by the woman tapping her foot and watching her clock. The words 'please wait while locating destination' were scrolling across the top of the screen. An error beep suddenly sounded, showing the lab coated woman slumped in a chair and crying into her arms.

"_**252 Locations Found. Insufficient Information. Please Give A More Specific Location In The Following Format: Location, City, Country, Continent, Planet, Star System, Galaxy."**_ Ryoga blinked. He then blinked again. After that, he reconsidered what he just heard, making sure he understood that correctly.

"Er...Tendo Dojo, Nerima, Japan, Honshu, Earth, Sol, Milky Way?" Ryoga muttered, glad he had paid attention in science class those few days he had shown up. Good thing for him they were discussing astronomy. The computer thought for about a split second before he was once again greeted by a woman giving him a thumbs up. With that, the woman disappeared, being replaced by a symbol so bizarre that Ryoga's eyes crossed just by looking at it. He could only assume it was an arrow, however he couldn't tell for the life of him what direction it was pointing at. At the top of the screen he saw the words "ETA: 2:50:35.2301" with the last digits rapidly increasing. Beneath the symbol he saw a tab labeled 'options' and moved the cursor to click it.

"Let's see...Ah, audio instructions. I'll turn that on." Ryoga muttered, choosing the option and going back to the map. The symbol was still there, however the computer was now speaking as well.

"_**Turn Double-Left Back In Five Meters."**_ The computer said. Ryoga blinked again.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean!" Ryoga shouted in frustration. That arguably made less sense than the mind boggling symbol. Great, he somehow managed to break the mercury computer so now it only gave directions in gibberish. Sighing in defeat, Ryoga started walking, figuring he'd follow the incomprehensible directions as best he could. Surprisingly enough, that was easier than Ryoga had thought. The ETA was counting down now, and for the first time in his entire life he actually felt like he knew where he was going.

"_**Youma Activity Detected. Redirecting."**_ The computer suddenly said. The ETA and direction changed dramatically and Ryoga began to follow the new directions, despite not really knowing what the hell they meant.

"_**Continue Up-North For 17 Meters And Turn Right-Down Break. ETA Two Minutes."**_ The computer said and Ryoga followed. After exactly two minutes, the forest cleared and Ryoga found himself standing in the middle of a park. Directly in front of him was a cloaked youma fighting a blonde teenager. From the looks of it, the blonde boy was on the ropes. The cloaked Youma was literally running circles around him.

"I can't believe those directions actually worked..." Ryoga muttered. He had more important things to deal with though.

"Damn it, stand still!" The blonde screamed, punching at the youma again, only to have it duck the blow and plow straight into his sternum with a fierce punch. Seiji was sent flying yet again, skidding across the dirt like a rag doll. Ryoga wasted no time as he tore across the field, nailing the surprised Youma across the cheek with a vicious right hook. The Youma was blown clear off its feet from the punch, landing roughly and rolling back into a ready position.

"You alright?" Ryoga asked, turning towards the blonde. He was getting back to his feet and briefly looked at Ryoga, nodding his head to answer the question.

"Who the hell are you?" He asked. Ryoga wasn't paying attention, as the Youma was already getting up and coming right at the two of them.

"We don't really have time for that right now!" The Youma came in with a speed Ryoga had not been expecting. One second it was slowly shambling to its feet, the next it blurred across the field in a fraction of a second. It had been more a reflex than anything else that allowed him to dodge the first punch, however he never even saw the follow up coming. All he managed to catch was the sound of its cloak fluttering before he felt himself flying backward. He hadn't even felt the punch until after he had already hit the ground.

Seiji was already in motion before Ryoga was even done flying backward, rushing in with a fast jab towards the Youma's face. As Ryoga got back up, he just managed to see the Youma dodge the punch with ease before a blur flew from within its cloak, sending Seiji on a similar flight path Ryoga took. Unlike with Ryoga, however, the Youma rushed to follow him, intent to beat the blonde teen in the ground without remorse.

"Nice to see I've been ignored..." Ryoga grumbled, getting back to his feet and dropping his pack. He still hadn't replaced his umbrella, however he remembered the pole he had been practicing with that morning, having slipped it into his pack.

"Get off of me!" Seiji shouted, kicking at the youma. It blurred to the side and grabbed a hold of his leg, a sneer appearing on its twisted lips as it prepared to hurl him like a rag doll. That was when Ryoga's pole came in, smashing the youma in the face with a metallic chime, as if Ryoga had just struck it with a tuning fork.

"You're interfering, human!" The youma growled, glaring at Ryoga with its teeth bared. He seemed to have broken its nose. How nice.

"Got any plans?" Seiji asked, standing next to Ryoga at the ready while the monster got its bearings. Ryoga just shrugged and tightened his grip on the pole, holding it like one would a sword.

"Hit it until it stops moving?" Ryoga offered.

"Sounds good to me!" As the two of them rushed forward, the Youma growled and moved to intercept. Ryoga came in high with an overhead swing, which the Youma promptly dodged to the side to avoid. As it moved to counter attack, Seiji came in with a right hook that sent it reeling back. Seiji followed up with a left jab, getting the youma in the jaw and throwing it off balance again. Ryoga pushed this advantage, keeping the youma off balance with a horizontal slash that dug so deep into its side he practically touched the thing's spine. This blow sent the youma tumbling end over end across the dirt field, being followed closely by the two fighters.

"We got it on the ropes now!" Seiji came running at the Youma just as it was beginning to get back to its feet. His uppercut snapped it right back up to a standing position, its feet very nearly leaving the ground. Ryoga didn't allow that to happen though, intercepting the youma with his jumping slash and smashing it right back down into the ground again. The sound of bones crunching awarded him for his efforts. The Youma suddenly blurred, sending up a cloud of dirt and dust as it forced itself away from the two, but they didn't want to give it enough time to recuperate.

"I've had enough of this! Grenadier!" The youma's cloak parted suddenly, revealing a large cannon attached to one of its hands. Seiji had the time to note to himself that the youma had thus far only used one hand moments before the attack struck. His world became full of pain as the air was forcefully removed from his lungs. His shirt was annihilated by the bright blast of white light, leaving nothing between it and his flesh as it exploded violently against his body. Seiji was sent flying backwards, his torso smoking and his body limp.

"Shit." Ryoga grunted, watching as Seiji was taken out of the fight in one shot. As he turned his attention back to the Youma, he had just enough time to curse again as he saw a large amount of energy collecting in the monster's arm cannon.

"Grenadier!" The bolt of magical energy flew across the short distance like a shining cannon ball, nailing Ryoga directly in the chest and erupting in a brilliant blast of white light and sound. Somehow, Ryoga knew the blast he had been hit with was much more potent than what Seiji had been given. Maybe it was the fact that the explosion had been so much larger. Maybe it was the fact he was being propelled back at such high speed that he managed to get all the way back to the forest he started in, while Seiji only moved a few meters.

Actually, it was probably the fact he felt his abdomen explode from that blast, or the blood he could see freely spilling from the wound.

"Hmph. That takes care of him." Nephrite muttered, glad to see the interloper was out of the picture. Seiji was stirring, slowly but surely getting back to his feet after being nailed by that attack. It was a good thing Clokise had the foresight to hold back, or else that boy would be dead right now. Too bad for that other fool, Nephrite hadn't instructed her to give him that same courtesy.

"Alright Clokise, He's too weak to fight back. Drain his energy!" Nephrite commanded. Clokise nodded her head and started moving towards the injured teen.

"I'm not done yet." Seiji muttered, standing up straight and grabbing his chest in pain. He wasn't going to let this damn thing beat him. Unfortunately, his body wasn't up to the job his spirit was demanding. He felt like he could barely stand, let alone fight.

"Give up, Human." The youma growled, stalking slowly towards the injured teen. For a moment, it thought it had seen a flash of light coming from where that other human had landed, but Clokise paid it no mind.

"Bubble Spray!" The Youma blinked in surprise as the world around it suddenly disappeared into a thick mist. Seiji was only a few meters away before and now he was gone, lost in a featureless blue fog. The youma growled in a combination of anger and frustration before it started dashing randomly through the mist, trying in vain to find its target.

"What is this?" Nephrite gasped, looking around in confusion. It only took him a moment to realize what had happened. One of the Senshi could create a mist! How had they found him? They shouldn't be anywhere near this area of Tokyo.

"Who the hell are you?" Seiji grunted, looking up at the strange blue haired girl in the ridiculous outfit. She was currently dragging him through the bizarre mist that had sprung up, and for some reason she looked just as hurt as he was.

"No one you need to concern yourself with. Come on, I'm getting you out of here." Mercury muttered and continued to walk through the mist. 'I'm glad this stupid spell is useful for something.' she thought to herself.

"Gahk." Mercury uttered, coughing up some blood and falling to her knees. This is what she got for being stupid enough to get hit by another damn magic attack. She really had to stop attacking the monsters before transforming. As stupid as the costume looked, it was better than getting holes blown in her.

"All you alright?" Seiji asked, watching as the blue haired girl fell to her knees and held her torso in pain. Now that he looked, her leotard was stained red. She was bleeding pretty badly.

"Shit, you're hurt worse than I am." Seiji said, surprised.

"I'm fine. Worry about yourself." Mercury grumbled, getting back to her feet. The mist started to waver and vanish, much to her annoyance. 'Damn it, I can't keep this up. I don't have the strength to maintain the mist...' Mercury thought, watching the mist vanish as Clokise came into view.

"There you are! Grenadier!" The Youma shouted, lifting the cannon on its hand and launching its magic attack.

"Get down!" Mercury grabbed Seiji and dove out of the way of the blast, grunting as she landed on her injury. She looked behind herself, noticing too late that they had been standing right in front of the unconscious green haired girl.

"MIDORI!" Seiji shouted, his eyes widening in horror. The world seemed to move in a sudden slow motion as the brilliant white blast of explosive energy tore through the air towards the downed girl. He couldn't let this happen. He refused to let her come to harm! Before Seiji was even aware of it, he was in motion. His face was a mask of pure determination as he drew on strength he didn't know he had. He had to get to her in time. There were no other options.

The blast was getting painfully close as Seiji moved, finding himself standing directly between it and Midori. Once he was there though, he suddenly realized the slight problem with his plan. Not knowing what else to do, he lifted his right hand and punched the approaching attack with all his might.

Nephrite nearly fell off the fence by what happened next. Energy. Immense human energy springing out of seemingly nowhere. He couldn't understand it. 'What is this power? There's so much ambient human energy here. The air is saturated with it. This is double...no...Triple the energy Seiji Sawamura had. Where did this energy come from?' Nephrite wondered. He wasn't about to let this opportunity pass him up though, and immediately began draining the human energy out of the air.

"Wh...What the..." Mercury muttered, looking at Seiji in total shock. The youma shared her expression, openly gaping at Seiji as he stood protectively in front of his girlfriend, his right arm still extended forward in a punch. There had been no explosion, at least not the kind of explosion they were expecting. As Seiji's fist hit the blast, he had exploded with an intense aura. The blast had just up and disappeared, almost as if Seiji absorbed it. But the most remarkable thing was his right hand. His hand had been replaced by a glowing white sphere. It shone like a frozen explosion, a white fire seeming to flow across the smooth surface of the spherical limb. Another interesting thing Mercury noticed was the complete lack of a wound on his torso. Somehow, Seiji had become completely healed.

"Can you feel it?" Seiji muttered evilly, never moving from his position with his new hand extended forward. "Can you feel its fury?" The youma took a step back, visibly shaking with what could only be fear.

"I'll show it to you." Seiji muttered. He had a maddened look in his eyes, as if he had completely snapped. "I'll show you the true power of my Akuma no Migite!" Seiji was off like a shot, dashing towards the youma at a speed far surpassing what he had been able to pull off earlier. As he approached, he pulled back his right hand and readied it for a punch. The youma was too shell shocked to do anything but scream.

In an instant, Seiji struck. As his glowing hand struck the Youma, an explosion identical to the Youma's Grenadier attack erupted at the point of impact. As the blinding light cleared, Seiji seemed to return to normal. His aura vanished, his senses came back, and his right hand was once more a hand. The Youma was not fairing so well, as it had been blown in half and was in the process of disintegrating into dust.

"What...what the hell happened?" Seiji muttered, looking at his own right hand in awe. He turned towards the fence, seeing that Masato Sanjoin had run off at some point. He clenched his fist a little in anger, but let that pass as he spotted the blue haired girl in the weird outfit. He remembered how she had been bleeding and quickly moved towards her.

"You alright?" Seiji quickly ran over to the girl, briefly wondering why he felt so energized. As he got close to her, he offered to help her up, getting little more than a glare in response.

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me." Mercury slapped Seiji's hand away and shakily returned to her feet. She felt so weak. The fuku seemed to be functioning fairly well as a bandage, but she had still lost a lot of blood. Both Seiji and Mercury turned their attention away from each other though, as the green haired girl was beginning to stir.

"Midori!" Seiji was by her side in a flash, helping the disoriented girl get back to her feet. "Are you okay?" He asked. She blinked at him a few times, as if confused to see him.

"Seiji-kun? What happened? Why am I in the park?" She asked, letting her boyfriend pull her back to her feet.

"You tripped on a rock and bumped your head. That's all." Seiji answered. He didn't really feel the need to explain the whole business about monsters and crazy martial arts instructors. It'd just worry her.

Mercury sighed a bit as she put the pole away and shouldered her pack, hoping to sneak away from the couple without incident.

"Oh, Sailor Mercury!" Midori suddenly exclaimed, causing mercury to stop in her tracks and sigh a little. She was in no condition to stick around any longer.

"Eh? That guy's stuff..." Seiji muttered, pointing at the pack, "Was he a friend of yours? Where is he? Is he okay?"

"Yeah...He's fine..." Mercury said, 'if you don't count the fact I'm slowly bleeding to death.' she added to herself.

"Well, Thank you. Both of you. I couldn't have saved Midori without your help." Seiji suddenly said, standing rigid and bowing deeply. "Thank you very much!"

"You're welcome. Bye." Mercury needed to get out of there fast, preferably to seek immediate medical attention. They both waved goodbye to her and headed off in a different direction, much to her relief.

After a few more minutes of walking, Mercury collapsed against the wall of a nearby building, her legs no longer able to support her weight. The pack fell off her shoulders without resistance, hitting the sidewalk with a thump as Mercury began to slowly slide down the wall. She was breathing heavily, clutching her bloody side in pain as she tried to move on through force of will. She barely noticed her fuku turn into ribbons of water before being replaced by her male clothing. Apparently, she no longer had the strength to maintain the transformation. Unfortunately, the fuku had been keeping her wound closed. The blast had shredded her shirt, leaving it to bleed freely again.

"I think I'll just...rest here awhile..." Ryoga grunted, sinking further down the wall until she was sitting on the sidewalk. Her tattered shirt left her chest bare for all to see. The rather large wound in her abdomen would probably garner more attention though, as it was currently spilling blood into the street. Damn, that blast had been a lot more potent than she had thought. For some reason, her body just didn't want to move anymore.

* * *

"This energy is indeed impressive, Nephrite. I was right to assign you to this job in Jadeite's absence." Queen Beryl declared, staring lovingly into the sphere of human energy before her.

"Thank you, my queen." Nephrite replied, bowing deeply. He smirked to himself, mentally cheering a bit. There was no way she would have him killed now.

"Let's hope for your sake you can keep this up, Nephrite." Queen Beryl said, causing Nephrite to look up in surprise momentarily.

"You are dismissed." Queen Beryl announced.

"Yes, my lady." With that, Nephrite quickly stood and took his leave from the throne room.

"That wasn't very bright, Nephrite." Nephrite frowned when he heard the voice of the effeminate general. He never liked to interact with Zoisite. Just hearing his voice made Nephrite's skin crawl.

"What do you want?" Nephrite growled, glaring at the blonde man.

"Me? I'm just here to give you some advice." Zoisite uttered. Nephrite just continued to glare at him.

"If I desire your advice, I will ask for it. Begone!" Nephrite commanded. Zoisite merely chuckled to himself.

"I think you should hear this. Delivering so much energy to queen beryl this soon will only raise her expectations of you. Even if you deliver her energy regularly from this point on, you will only earn her ire if you can't match what you brought her today. You're as good as dead. I'm sure Jadeite will be eager to see you in the afterlife." Zoisite looked rather smug as he spoke, which only made Nephrite laugh even harder.

"What's so funny?" Zoisite asked angrily. "That energy must have come from hundreds of humans. There's no way you can keep that up!"

"Fool. I gained that energy from a single human." Nephrite replied smugly. Zoisite glared at him angrily, but Nephrite continued. "I'll let you in on a little information, Zoisite. I have discovered that when a human achieves their true potential, they release a massive amount of energy, ready for the taking."

"So it was a fluke. What are the chances you'll encounter more humans about to reach their true potential?" Zoisite asked, regaining some of his smugness.

"Oh, I'll have a way to locate such humans soon enough." Nephrite remarked, laughing to himself as he teleported away.

* * *

Ryoga groaned as she came to, sitting up in bed and grabbing her head in pain. It took the blue haired girl a few moments to realize that she was in a hospital, and when she did she sighed in annoyance.

"I hate hospitals." Ryoga grumbled, pulling the various needles and sensors that were stuck to her body out before getting out of bed. It sure was nice of them to leave her pack in here. It made escaping so much easier. As quickly as she could, Ryoga shed the hospital gown and put on some normal clothes from her pack, shouldering the large bag just as a group of nurses burst into the room.

"What are you doing? You shouldn't be out of bed yet!" One of them protested. The whole lot of them moved to block the door, knowing the girl was trying to run off without paying the hospital bill.

"Sorry, but I don't have time for this." Ryoga responded, spotting a nearby window. It was a good thing she didn't own any form of ID. It meant the chances this would come back to bite her in the ass were practically zero. Ryoga dove out the window with little hesitation, grunting in annoyance as she tore an air conditioning unit apart in the process. The air conditioner hit the ground 2 stories down and shattered to pieces, followed shortly by Ryoga, who immediately made a break for it the second her feet touched the ground.

"That was a close one." Ryoga muttered, feeling the bandage around her mid section. She lifted her shirt and tore the bandage off, happy to see her wound had healed already. Curious, she pulled the mercury computer out of her pocket, checking the built in calendar briefly.

"It's been six days? Jeez, that youma was way stronger than I thought." She muttered to herself, making a mental note yet again to never get into a fight with a youma without transforming first. Seeing that the hospital was no longer in sight, she slowed down to a walk and grabbed a thermos out of her pack. Happy to see it still contained hot water, she splashed herself in the face, transforming back into a man.

"There we go, much better." Ryoga said to himself before starting to fiddle with the mercury computer again. In a few seconds the little woman in a lab coat appeared on the screen again, looking inquisitively at him. The words 'where would you like to go today?' had once again appeared on the screen.

"_**Youma Activity Detected. Auto-Directing."**_ Before Ryoga even had a chance to give it directions, the computer decided to point him where it felt like once again.

"What? Screw that, I don't care. I just got my ass handed to me by a Youma, take me somewhere else" Ryoga grumbled, fiddling with the computer. However, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get it to change directions off of the Youma.

"Fine, I'll get there on my own." Ryoga pocketed the computer and set off in a random direction. He'd show that computer who was boss. He didn't have to go fight a Youma if he didn't want to.

"_**Arriving at Destination."**_ The computer suddenly said a few minutes later, much to Ryoga's surprise. As if to prove a point, He once again found himself staring at the sight of a strange Youma stirring up trouble. It was once again clearly female, however this Youma had a series of tentacles sprouting out of her back and was currently in the processes of beating the crap out of random people on the street.

"You...cheating..." Ryoga muttered, pulling the computer out again to see the woman in a lab coat whistling innocently and averting her eyes away from him. Somehow, the stupid computer sent him straight to the Youma without him having to follow its directions. That wasn't even fair.

"Hmm?" Nephrite muttered, turning his head towards the nearby alley, spotting a boy with a large traveling pack over his shoulder. Upon seeing him, the boy ducked back into the alley, obviously wanting nothing to do with the Youma attack.

'That boy looked familiar...' Nephrite thought to himself briefly. 'No matter.' He turned his attention back to the Youma.

"Go, Tentos! Free as much human energy as you can!" Nephrite commanded. He needed a means to find humans about to reach their potential, and he knew of only one way to achieve that. Unfortunately, he needed a lot of energy to create the crystal locater, thus he was forced to resort to a tactless assault of random humans. It was a means to an ends, however. It needed to be done.

"Shit." Ryoga muttered, his pen falling out of his sleeve and into his hand. He looked at it for a few seconds, knowing exactly what it meant.

'I'm willingly transforming. Luna isn't pushing me into it, and my life isn't in danger. I could walk away right now and not have to deal with it.' He thought to himself, gripping the pen a little tighter. He could hear the people screaming as they were attacked by the Youma only a few yards behind him.

"Screw it. Mercury Power, Make up!" In an instant, Ryoga had transformed, quickly dashing back around the corner and heading straight for the tentacled youma.

"Prepare to die!" Mercury shouted, leaping at the confused youma. Before it even had the chance to turn around and look at its attacker, Mercury was already upon it, kicking it in the face so hard that the Youma was sent flying back, skipping across the asphalt like a rock across a pond. The people the Youma had previously been terrorizing made a break for it, happy to have the opportunity to escape.

"You damn human!" The youma roared, getting back to its feet. Much to its surprise, the blue haired Senshi was once again right in its face. It didn't even get to stand back up all the way before Mercury smashed the thing back into the ground. It jumped back to its feet again and was intercepted in the chest with a vicious side kick, hurling it through a street light and causing it to crash into the brick wall behind it. Before it even fell off the wall, Mercury was upon it once again with a blow that shattered the wall and sent the Youma into a building.

"You'll pay for this!" The Youma growled, grunting as it got nailed by a back fist in the face, followed by a jab from the opposite arm and a front kick that hurled it through a concrete pillar. Judging from the way the ceiling collapsed on it, that had been a load bearing pillar.

"Starlight Attack!"

"Eh?" Mercury turned around, just in time to spot Nephrite unleashing a blast of white blue light. 'Shit, it's moving too fast!' Mercury thought, taking the blast head on. The blast struck her and kept moving, pushing her all the way into and through the opposite wall before finally exploding, hurling Mercury across the street and into a phone pole. People gaped and started running once Mercury burst through the wall. A few were sticking around, but once Nephrite and the Youma showed, the rest started to scatter.

"I will not sit idly by and let a Sailor Senshi interfere with my business." Nephrite growled, approaching the downed Senshi. He was glowing angrily, causing his hair to start floating behind him.

"Then I guess I'll just have to take both of you on." Mercury muttered, getting back to her feet. She was surprised by how little that attack had hurt. It felt no worse than one of Ranma's Mouku Takabishas. The stupid fuku really did make a surprising difference when it came to getting shot by magic.

"Tentos, steal her energy." Nephrite commanded. Before Mercury could react, the Youma's tentacles seemed to grow dramatically as they shot across the gap of the street and grabbed her around the legs, arms and torso.

"Damn you, let go!" Mercury yelled, pulling against the tentacles as they dragged her across the street toward the youma. More tentacles joined the first few and Mercury was soon completely bound, held in the air with her arms tied behind her back and her legs spread eagle. She had almost no leverage in this position, and her struggles didn't seem to be doing much anymore. The tentacles started glowing slightly, making Mercury struggle even more.

"It's not working, master. I can't steal her energy." Tentos muttered in surprise. The glow got stronger as the monster put more effort behind it, but still nothing happened.

"Let. Me. Go!" Mercury growled, struggling to no avail. This was so remarkably frustrating, being tied up like this by tentacles. And the way the slimy appendages were feeling their way up and down her thighs was really starting to get annoying.

Mercury froze up suddenly, looking down at her current predicament. She was suddenly reminded of a comic one of her classmates in junior high had brought in and showed her, about a magical girl who was fighting a demon with tentacles. It had been an all boys school, so the types of magazines and comics the boys tended to bring in were rarely of the innocent variety.

Mercury suddenly came to several simultaneous realizations.

She was a Magical Girl.

This Youma had tentacles.

She was currently tied up in said tentacles and totally at the mercy of the youma in question.

"Oh hell no!" Mercury shouted, struggling even harder than before. There was no way in hell she was going to let _that_ happen! A blue green aura began to build around mercury's body as her struggles increased. If struggling didn't work, she'd just flatten the thing.

"What's going on?" Nephrite asked. He felt a sudden increase in human energy. A dramatic increase. What was this build up?

"Master, she's getting heavier..." Tentos complained. Sweat began to form on its face as it struggled to hold mercury up. After a few moments it became too much for it to take and it was forced to release the blue haired Senshi.

"Shishi Hokodan!" Mercury roared, unleashing the full fury of her chi. Nephrite's eyes widened in shock at the giant pillar of energy firing straight into the sky, shattering nearby windows and tearing apart the buildings on either side of the road as it went up. That blast was nothing but human energy!

"Tentos, absorb it!" Nephrite shouted, noticing that the blast was coming back down. The youma acted immediately, throwing its tentacles up with full intent to catch the orb of energy. There was a brilliant explosion of power as the shishi hokodan collided with Tentos, however it was blatantly obvious which of the two were coming out victorious in the struggle. After a few moments, all trace of the shishi hokodan was gone, leaving only a cackling Tentos behind.

"Kill her." Nephrite commanded, a smirk on his face. With the energy Tentos just absorbed, he had more than enough to create the crystal.

"With pleasure!" Apparently, this particular youma got stronger when it absorbed energy. Before Mercury could even blink, Tentos was upon her with a punch the likes of which had no comparison. Not even Lime had ever hit her that hard. Time seemed to slow down as the monstrous fist compacted her torso, her body doubling over and her ribs creaking from the strain.

Then in an instant she was off, propelled like a missile by the intense force of the punch. She didn't even notice the street light as she tore through it, or the tree at the end of the street. She went straight through the window of a department store and tore right through the opposite wall before the pain in her back started to outweigh what her chest felt like. She went through another two walls, followed by several shelving units and crates that had been stacked in the room. By the time she broke through the back wall and was in the next street over, she had already been de-transformed. She didn't even notice it happen.

"What the hell!" She heard someone shout, right before feeling herself get caught in his arms. He clearly wasn't prepared to deal with the significant amount of momentum she still had, however, as the guy in question was blown off his feet, not stopping until he slammed into a solid concrete telephone pole on the opposite side of the street, which promptly fell over.

"Shit...that hurt..." Ryoga heard him mutter. People were starting to gather around the two of them, clearly concerned. Others were staring at the row of holes Ryoga had put in the two buildings she had gone through. With a groan, Ryoga got to her hands and knees, wobbling slightly before emptying the contents of her stomach in the nearby gutter.

"You okay?" Ryoga looked up at the guy for the first time as he offered her a hand. He looked like he was straight out of the army or something, wearing a pair of camouflage pants, a black tank top and combat boots. He even had a belt and harness with various pouches and items attached to them, and a large traveler's pack on his back. Ryoga half expected to see an M-16 slung over one shoulder as well.

"I'm fine." Ryoga answered, getting to her feet on her own. She immediately regretted it as a stab of horrible pain raced across her entire midsection, sending her right back to her knees.

"You don't look fine." Army boy said, shaking his head to himself. Ryoga glared at him and tried to stand up again. She got to her feet fairly well, however she was still holding her abdomen in pain.

"I told you...I'm fine..." Ryoga didn't give the guy a second glance, instead turning towards the crowd that had gathered around the hole. She needed to go pick up her pack, which she had left in the alleyway when she transformed. And now, she had no idea where that alleyway was. Great.

"Whatever. Suit yourself, Blue." Ryoga glanced back towards the army guy as he started to walk away. Damn it, She was going to need help if she ever intended to get that pack back again.

"Hey, army boy." Ryoga said. He stopped and turned around, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"What, now you want my help?" He asked. He looked at Ryoga skeptically, almost as if he was wondering if he should even bother at this point.

"Don't get the wrong idea. I just need help finding my pack." Ryoga replied. For a few moments they stared each other down before Ryoga sighed and started moving through the crowd towards a handy alley that looked like it led right where she was trying to go. She hadn't even taken two steps before she felt a hand on her shoulder, looking up to see the army guy was standing beside her.

"Alright, I'll help. You look so pathetic clutching your chest like that." Ryoga glared at him, but said nothing. She'd hit him after he found her pack.

* * *

Nephrite grinned to himself at his personal victory. Not only had he gathered a large amount of energy, but he had successfully defeated one of the sailor senshi in the process. It was indeed a good day. Now all he needed to do was complete the creation of the crystal and he'd be able to supply Queen Beryl with all the human energy she'd ever need.

"The stars know everything." Nephrite began, closing his eyes as the star map appeared on the ceiling above him. The planets soared around their orbits around the central sun with the stars covering the room. Somewhere, a good distance behind him, a far off star was experiencing a super nova while comets and asteroids shot through space around Nephrite's body.

"When the sun aligns with the first three planets, and the great hunter Orion clashes with Sagittarius, the power to guide shall be revealed." Nephrite muttered to himself. He opened his eyes and glanced up at the sun, just as the first three planets fell into alignment with the burning star. Nephrite cupped his hands together as black lightning danced across his arms and began to collect at the point between his palms.

"That guide shall take the form of the White Crystal." Nephrite muttered as the lightning increased in intensity. An orb of white light started to form between his hands with the black lightning flowing out of it, forming an odd contrast of color as it grew.

"The White Crystal, the harbinger of human potential. Take form!" The white orb grew exponentially until it was several times larger than Nephrite himself. A storm of black lightning was striking the orb repeatedly in a violent display of power. Just as the orb reached its peak size, Nephrite began step two, and forced all the human energy he had just collected into the giant orb.

With a sudden and mighty explosion, the spell was complete. Nephrite was briefly blinded by the intense white light and was forced to shield his eyes. The light soon died down though, and when he lowered his arm he could see his completed work lying on the floor. One, final bolt of electricity raced across its surface before it laid still.

"So, this is the White Crystal." Nephrite muttered, picking up the pale white crystal. It shined slightly, revealing a young adult wearing a yellow jacket in its prism like surface.

"Kouji Kudo," Nephrite muttered, the crystal bestowing him with the knowledge of the man's name and whereabouts. "So this is a man who will soon achieve his true potential. I suppose I should help him along in that process." Nephrite grinned evilly for a few moments before he started to laugh. Oh yes, today was a good day indeed.

* * *

"Satou-senpai...please help me change senpai back..." Kouji begged, tears streaming down from his eyes as he sat on his knees before the older woman. Asami Satou just glanced down at Kouji from over her work, a look of general confusion on her face.

"I don't know what you mean, Kudo-kun. I changed Aihara back into a man just last week." Asami replied, turning back to the large stack of papers in front of her.

"I know! I want you to help me change him back into a woman!" Kouji shouted, bowing and scraping and begging. Asami just blinked a few times before taking off her glasses to rub the bridge of her nose. She was getting a headache.

"I don't think Aihara would appreciate that." She uttered, shaking her head.

"Please, Satou-senpai! I'll do anything!" Just then, the door opened, causing Kouji to jump back to his feet.

"Excuse me for interrupting. My name is Masato Sanjoin. I'm looking for a Ms. Asami Satou." Nephrite said, closing the door behind him. He glanced around the room briefly, smirking slightly as he saw the boy that would soon give him all his energy.

"Yes, I'm Asami Satou." Asami answered, picking up her glasses and putting them back on. "Kudo-kun, could you please wait outside?" Kouji looked at her for a second before nodding and leaving the room.

"So, what can I help you with?" The blue haired woman asked. Nephrite smirked slightly before lunging forward. Asami's eyes widened in shock as Nephrite suddenly approached. She was about to scream when he threw her against the wall and covered her mouth with his hand, placing his other hand over her forehead.

'My youma...possess this young woman and make her my obedient servant.' An archaic symbol suddenly appeared on Asami's head and glowed brightly, causing the woman to spasm as if electrocuted for several moments, her eyes wide with fear. After a minute, however, her struggles ceased. The symbol disappeared as if it had never been and Asami's eyes took on a mischievous look. Nephrite smirked at his handwork, releasing Asami from the wall and stepping back.

"What do you wish of me, my master?" Asami asked humbly, bowing before the dark general.

"I want you to do everything in your power to bring out Kouji Kudo's true potential, through any means necessary." Nephrite commanded, a smirk forming on his lips.

"As you command." Asami stood back up straight and gave a mischievous smirk to her master before returning to her desk. Nephrite turned back towards the door, making his exit.

"Oh, Kudo-kun!" Asami shouted in a singsong voice. Kouji was back in the room in an instant, looking at Asami curiously.

"Yes, Satou-senpai?" Kouji muttered, looking a little nervous. He didn't like the way Satou-senpai was looking at him. She looked like a hungry lion who just happened across a large group of injured baby zebras.

"I think I will help you with Aihara-kun." She said. Kouji was about to celebrate, but she waved her hand at him to stop. "But, there's a condition."

"Anything Satou-senpai! Just ask!" Kouji said.

"Well, I'm going to need you to test some potions for me." Asami said, an evil grin on her face. She'd do what her master asked of her, even if she had to kill Kouji in the process.

* * *

Several Hours Later...

Asami was biting her nails in frustration. She had been force feeding Kouji all kinds of potions that should have been enhancing his strength, but so far they've had no effect. She was starting to get really annoyed by it. All her attempts had ended in total failure. One of them should have worked by now!

"Satou-senpai...can I go home now? I don't feel well..." Kouji complained, holding his stomach and rocking back and forth in his seat. Asami just glared at him for a few moments from behind her hands.

"No, you can't go home! You aren't going anywhere until I get this right!" Asami shouted, causing Kouji to shrink back.

"Wahh...Satou-senpai is scary..." Kouji started crying. He wasn't up to this anymore. He just wanted to go home. Maybe he should have asked Chisato to help him with changing senpai into a girl? She would still test on him, but she wasn't as mean about it.

"Alright, Kouji. I've got another potion for you to try." Asami said, pointing at a vial at the end of the table. It was one that Asami had made prior to being possessed. Thus far, she had been avoiding giving Kouji anything at random. However, at this point, she was way too annoyed to care.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Get up and get it!" Kouji shrunk back at Asami's tone before doing as he was told. As he stood up though, he immediately became lightheaded. He felt dizzy, and his eyesight was starting to tunnel. Despite this, he made a move for the potion anyway. He had just picked it up when his vestibular totally failed him, causing him to fall over suddenly and accidentally toss the potion.

"Ah! I'm sorry Satou-senpai!" Kouji cried out, getting back to his feet. That was when he noticed he had accidentally spilled the potion all over Satou-senpai, who was now thrashing around.

"...Senpai?" Kouji uttered. She was screaming and thrashing around as if in terrible pain. A mysterious symbol appeared on her forehead suddenly before the woman was bathed in a black light. In an instant, a shadow emerged from the woman, solidifying into the shape of a dark skinned Youma who bore a striking resemblance to Asami.

"You damn human! You'll pay for this!" The youma shouted, moving towards the cowering man with murder in its eyes.

* * *

"There it is." Ryoga said in relief, spotting her pack in a nearby alley. She and the army boy had been wandering around the area for several hours in search of it. The army boy had started giving her looks she really didn't like, and Ryoga was almost certain he had started to get ideas. At least her torso didn't hurt anymore.

"This is your pack?" The guy asked, grabbing one of the straps and starting to pick it up. His eyes widened in shock as he felt the weight. This thing weighed even more than his own pack, and he stuffed his with bricks!

"Yeah, that's it." Ryoga answered. She grabbed the pack away from the army boy and lifted it easily to her back, causing the army boy to raise an eyebrow.

'Wow, this girl's got everything. She's gorgeous, strong and clearly skilled. Come on, Ryu. Take a shot at her. She's perfect.' The army boy thought to himself, a sly smirk appearing on his face.

"You know, I don't think I've even told you my name yet," He said, "Ryu Kumon. Heir to the Kumon Dojo." Ryu said, hitting Ryoga with all the charm and charisma he could muster.

"Nice to meet you." Ryoga was barely paying any attention, instead turning her back on Ryu and walking on her way. To be honest, she was getting sick of his presence. She could just tell he was getting ready to hit on her, and she'd rather not have to kill a man today. Ryu was put off balance by her total lack of interest for a few moments, but quickly got his nerve back.

"We spent all day looking for your bag. You're probably starving. How about we get something to eat? My treat." Ryu suggested. Ryoga's eyebrow started to twitch in irritation. He was a sly one, that Ryu. That almost sounded like a perfectly innocent suggestion. If she were as stupid as Ranma, Ryoga probably would have jumped at the opportunity. Good thing she wasn't as stupid as Ranma.

"You know, that sounds-" Ryoga began, turning to face Ryu. As soon as she turned around, a look of mock horror crossed her face, just as Ryoga pointed behind Ryu. "Look out behind you! A three-headed monkey!" Ryu spun around in an instant, ready to fight off the beast and impress the girl. However, he saw nothing. The street was empty.

"Wait a minute, there's no such thing as three-headed monkeys..." Ryu muttered, turning back around. Well, what do you know? The street was empty in that direction too. The girl had totally ditched him. "Great, now I feel like an idiot. Can't believe I fell for that."

-x-

Ryoga sighed in relief as the hot water cascaded down his body. He shook his hair to get the liquid out and wiped the liquid away from his face and eyes. His shirt was now soaked, as if he had been sweating all day, but he didn't really care. All that mattered was that he was male again and he didn't have to deal with Ryu anymore.

"_**Youma Activity Detected. Auto-Directing."**_ The mercury computer suddenly intoned from Ryoga's pocket.

"What? Again? That's the second time today!" Ryoga complained. He was getting really tired of all these damn Youma attacks. He needed a vacation.

Unfortunately for Ryoga, he was unable to defy the Mercury Computer ever since he recalibrated the mapping system. Even when he didn't want to, he ended up following its directions. Within minutes, he had arrived in front of a college building. It didn't take him long to figure out why, considering Nephrite was floating in front of the building in question.

"Him again." Ryoga muttered, dropping his pack into a nearby alleyway.

"You again!" Nephrite suddenly shouted, causing Ryoga to jump a bit. The dark general was looking straight in his direction with annoyance in his eyes. Ryoga dashed away quickly, heading into the school.

'That strange boy keeps showing up.' Nephrite thought to himself, letting Ryoga get away. 'No matter. He never causes any problems for my youma.'

-x-

"No! Stay back!" Kouji began to crawl away from the angry youma, tears still streaming from his eyes as the monstrous beast continued to growl and glare at him.

"I will tear you apart, human!" The Youma growled, grabbing Kouji by his orange sweater and throwing him into a nearby cabinet. The wooden construction shattered as the man flew into it, sending splinters and dust shooting into the air. Broken glass from the various vials and containers also shot out like shrapnel, however the majority of it ended up in Kouji's back.

Kouji screamed out in pain as he hit the ground, the variety of chemicals that had been stored in that cabinet now coating most of his body. He cried out a few more times as the liquids soaked into his clothes and mingled with his blood and tears.

"It burns!" Kouji cried, starting to writhe a bit from the pain. The chemicals were even starting to seep into his skin as steam started to rise from his body.

"What is this?" The youma muttered in surprise, watching as Kouji started to scream even louder, his body producing a significant amount of steam. He started to rise off the ground, however he wasn't standing. He was literally floating above the floor as electricity seemed to dance across his body.

'There it is!' Nephrite thought, feeling Kouji reaching his peak. The resulting explosion was truly spectacular. It was like a miniature hurricane had momentarily formed within the small confines of the lab. The walls exploded outward from an intense wind within while electrical spikes rushed across the edges of the building. When the smoke cleared, Kouji could be seen hovering a few feet off the ground, surrounded in a corona of electric energy. The youma was cowering under a pile of rubble, staring at Kouji in fear.

"Ha! Fool!" The youma shouted, gathering its courage and returning to its feet, "This is what my master wanted all along! You've fallen right into our trap. And now, you get to die!" The youma rushed towards Kouji with its claws at the ready, fully prepared to tear the boy apart.

"This is the end, human!" It screeched, slashing at Kouji with its clawed hand. Kouji merely narrowed his eyes and raised one arm to block the blow. As soon as the Youma's hand came in contract with Kouji's bright aura, an intense electrical shock tore through its body. Its limb burst into flames and vaporized in an instant from the contact, sending the Youma to its knees.

"What...what are you?" The youma growled out, holding the stump that used to be its arm. Kouji merely stared down at the creature in disinterest. All signs of the whiny coward he had previously been were gone. Instead, he stood stoically at the ready, the electrical aura still crackling around his body.

"I'm no longer a mere human." Kouji muttered, kicking the youma in the chest. His leg struck like lightning, hurling the Youma across the room with a smoking foot mark now burned into its chest. "I am no longer normal Kouji Kudo!" Kouji shouted, rushing towards the Youma and punching it with a fierce electrical blast. The youma cried out from the blow, flying out the open hole where the wall had once been and plummeting down into the courtyard below.

"I have become Powerful Kouji!" Kouji roared. The youma got back to its feet and looked towards the man with fear in its eyes. Without even considering another attack, it turned tail and ran. Kouji would have none of that, however. He roared and held his hand high, his electric aura flaring with power while an orb of energy collected in his hand. With another roar of effort, Kouji hurled the orb like he was tossing a javelin, causing it to transform in an instant into a bolt of lightning. It struck the Youma with all the fury of Zeus himself, obliterating the monster in an instant. All the remained was a pile of dust, which slowly blew away in the wind.

"Impressive." Nephrite muttered with a smirk on his face, pulling the White Crystal from his coat and pointing it towards Powerful Kouji. "But your energy is mine now."

Kouji convulsed suddenly as a beam of light shot out of the crystal and struck him in the heart. His electrical aura started to bleed away, pulled into the light emitting from the crystal. All the energy Kouji had released into the air upon reaching his peak was also being pulled into the crystal, leaving nothing left as Nephrite drained him.

"Shishi Hokodan!" Nephrite cried out in pain as the blunt chi bolt struck him head on, nearly knocking him out of the sky and interrupting his draining of Kouji. Kouji hit the ground hard, his electric aura diminished to nothing.

"I'm getting tired of your insolence, Sailor Senshi." Nephrite growled, glaring at the blue haired Senshi who had appeared out of nowhere. Mercury stood her ground from a balcony above the room Kouji was in, glaring at the dark general.

"And I'm getting tired of your constant attacks. Who the hell are you, anyway?" Mercury demanded. She could hear Kouji coming to on the floor below her, but paid him no mind.

"I am Nephrite of the Dark Kingdom, and you have interfered for the last time! Starlight Attack!" Mercury leapt off the balcony as it exploded into splinters, aiming straight for Nephrite with a leaping kick. He was too surprised to react in time and took the blow head on, falling out of the sky a few meters. Mercury hit her target and leapt right back off his chest, landing in the hollowed out husk of a room where Kouji was getting back to his feet.

"You insolent little..." Nephrite cursed. It was then that he noticed his first target was back on his feet, and his right hand was glowing with electrical current.

"Take...this!" Kouji shouted, unleashing a blast of electricity towards the floating general. Nephrite cried out in pain as he was electrocuted, falling even further from where he had previously been floating.

"Come on, Nephrite! Do you really think you can fight both of us?" Mercury taunted. The Dark general growled at the words, but knew better than to attack. He was already injured, and probably wouldn't fare well against the two.

"My work is done here. You haven't seen the last of me!" The general threatened. And then, he was gone.

"Thank you for helping me, ma'am." Kouji said, bowing deeply to Mercury. She just sighed in response, resisting the urge to hit him for calling her 'ma'am.'

"...Don't mention it." Mercury finally got out. She was getting really tired of all this nonsense with the youma and the transformation. She didn't even give Kouji a second look before jumping down to ground level and heading back to where she left her pack. At this point, she just wanted to go home.

* * *

"This energy is truly amazing, Nephrite. You have out done yourself." Beryl muttered, looking into the orb of energy with awe. She hadn't seen this much pure energy in centuries.

"Thank you, my lady." Nephrite responded. He wasn't really in the mood to deal with the queen, though. He had other things on his mind. Most specifically, how to extract his revenge on a certain Senshi.

"You may leave." Beryl dismissed Nephrite with a wave of her hand, uninterested in the general in favor of admiring the energy further. Nephrite eagerly left the queen's chambers, appearing in an instant back in his mansion.

"I should consult the White Crystal again. Perhaps gathering more energy will get my mind off that insufferably annoying Sailor Mercury." Nephrite muttered to himself. He pulled the crystal out of his jacket and looked into its surface, a look of surprise crossing his face as he saw the person within it. That look of surprise quickly turned into a smirk. Oh yes, this one would definitely help him blow off some steam.

"I think I will handle this one personally. Ryoga Hibiki, prepare yourself." Nephrite began to laugh maniacally as he planned his attack against the Hibiki boy. He had gotten in the general's way a few too many times. And now, it was time for retribution.

* * *

Ryoga sighed in relief as he continued down the road, trudging along in search of home. He had told the Mercury Computer to take him home about a day ago, and thus far he had yet to be interrupted by a Youma attack. It looked like his luck was looking up. He may actually get back home by the end of the day.

"The sun's starting to set. It's not much further to Nerima now. I'm almost home." Ryoga said to himself. He was a big fan of talking to himself, actually. He felt it helped him stay sane. Crippling loneliness on the road had a tendency to mess with his head, and talking to someone, anyone, had always helped. As the lost boy trudged on down the road, his eyes turned skyward, gazing at the orange red hue of the clouds and sky caused by the setting sun.

"I'm afraid you won't be getting home today, Ryoga Hibiki." Ryoga froze in his tracks at the familiar voice, slowly turning around to see Nephrite leaning against a street lamp a few meters back. The presence of the dark general set Ryoga's danger sense on overdrive. This just didn't seem right, not at all. Where was the youma? Why hadn't the Mercury Computer warned him?

"Nephrite..." Ryoga growled, glaring at the man. Nephrite raised a single eyebrow, but otherwise made no movement.

"Why am I not surprised to find you in Nerima?" Nephrite suddenly asked, standing up from his position against the street lamp and slowly walking towards the Hibiki boy.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ryoga questioned, putting up his guard and taking a few steps away from the general. He knew what this guy was capable of. Ryoga wasn't about to let Nephrite catch him by surprise.

"This city has the highest concentration of Senshi activity in all of Japan. And you always seem to show your face around Senshi appearances." Nephrite answered. Ryoga cursed to himself silently. He knew he should have transformed before he actually got to the youma attacks. He was just asking to be noticed by showing up in his normal form first.

"You have a connection to the Sailor Senshi, don't you?" Nephrite accused. Ryoga wasn't about to let Nephrite get to him though. Instead, the Hibiki boy dropped his pack on the sidewalk, removing the iron pole from it in the process.

"You didn't track me down just to ask that, did you?" Ryoga asked, holding the bar at the ready. Nephrite just smirked upon seeing his stance, holding one arm out from his body. A stream of light erupted from his clenched fist, solidifying into the form of a blade.

"You're right. We should get right down to business." Nephrite flicked some of his hair out of his eyes before hardening his glare at Ryoga, raising his weapon in front of him. "I've come to rob you of your energy, Ryoga Hibiki. Prepare yourself!" Nephrite was off like a bullet, rushing straight towards the Hibiki boy with his sword at the ready. Ryoga responded in kind, raising his pole with full intent to strike. In an instant they were upon each other, blade and pole against each other as they each pressed all their strength into their weapon.

"Do you really think you can best me in a sword fight, human?" Nephrite growled out between his teeth, pushing even harder on his sword. Sparks started to shoot out from the place the two weapons met, showing just how much force they were applying to the weapons.

"My mother was an accomplished swordswoman. She taught me everything she knew." Ryoga grunted out, pushing Nephrite back a step. "I'm not about to lose to a monster like you." Ryoga suddenly stopped pushing, side stepping Nephrite as he was suddenly put off balance. Ryoga swung his pole with all his might at the stumbling general, fully intent to send him flying. Nephrite successfully blocked the blow with his blade, however he was in no position to stop his backwards momentum, and was tossed like a rag doll by the swing.

"Impressive!" Nephrite shouted out, stopping himself in midair before flying towards Ryoga at high speed. They met in a shower of sparks as their weapons recoiled off one another before meeting, again and again. Ryoga was starting to get forced back by the General, blocking and parrying a literal barrage of sword swings. Ryoga grunted under the onslaught, waiting for Nephrite to slip up. His opportunity came after Nephrite missed with a powerful down slash, giving Ryoga a perfect opening as he swung upward into the General's unprotected midsection. The blow never hit, however, as Nephrite floated backwards and held his palm up in Ryoga's direction.

"What?" Ryoga muttered in surprise, hitting nothing but air as a pulse of energy shot out of Nephrite's hand. He was unable to do anything but take it head on, being hurled back by the blast. Ryoga landed roughly a few meters back, barely able to lift his pole into a defensive position before Nephrite rushed again. His sword was glowing with Nephrite's fury, and the best Ryoga could do was put the pole in-between the sword and him.

With a single swipe, the pole was in two pieces. Nephrite followed the momentum of his swing for a second attack, however this time Ryoga was ready for it. Catching the second half of the pole as it fell, Ryoga leapt back and charged both halves with his chi until they were literally glowing. Nephrite swung and missed, just as Ryoga hurled both pieces of his pole. Nephrite had been kind enough to hit it at a diagonal, giving both pieces a nice, sharp edge. The first hit the blade so hard that it sung like a tuning fork, loosening Nephrite's grip on the handle. The second took Nephrite in the palm, impaling his hand entirely.

"ARG!" Nephrite cried out, his sword blinking out of existence. Green blood poured out his hand from around the pipe as Nephrite gripped his hand in pain. Ryoga didn't waste time pressing his advantage, rushing in and decking Nephrite with all the power he could muster. Nephrite hit the ground so hard he bounced a good foot back up, getting nailed by Ryoga's follow up ax kick without even seeing it coming.

"Bakusai Tenketsu!" As Nephrite landed on the ground on his back, Ryoga dove towards the ground and buried his finger into the asphalt right next to Nephrite's head. The world seemed to explode around the dark general, peppering his body with sharp pieces of stone shrapnel as he was hurled skyward.

"You will pay for this insolence, human!" Nephrite growled out, green blood dripping from open wounds and his uniform torn almost to shreds. Ryoga rushed forward and attacked again, however Nephrite floated out of his reach, stopping about 25 feet above the ground.

"Starlight Attack!" Nephrite cried out, crossing his arms and letting loose with the blue white blast of star energy. Ryoga braced himself for impact, remembering this attack from the last time Nephrite hit him with it. However, he was in for quite a surprise as it struck him head on, pushing him into the ground and exploding violently.

'What the hell...' Ryoga thought, struggling to get back to his feet. He was now lying in a large crater, and his body had been pretty singed by that attack. 'That had hurt a hell of a lot more than the last time he hit me.' Ryoga thought, noticing to his extreme annoyance that Nephrite was charging another one.

"Starlight Attack!" Ryoga made a break for it, however he didn't get away in time as the blast struck the ground directly behind him, exploding violently and hurling him further down the road. Had Nephrite gotten stronger? Why were his blasts so much more potent?

"Die, human!" Nephrite held his palm out towards Ryoga now, a series of purple orbs shooting out of his hand. They peppered the ground around Ryoga and exploded like grenades, once again sending Ryoga flying in pain.

'Of course! They're magic attacks.' Ryoga thought, realizing what was different. 'I was transformed last time. The fuku sure does make a difference.'

"Starlight Attack!" Nephrite shouted, letting loose his attack again.

"Shishi Hokodan!" Ryoga countered, gathering his depressed energy and hurling it skyward to meet the magic blast. The two attacks exploded in midair, sending a brilliant flash of white light around the area.

"That attack!" Nephrite shouted in surprise. Sailor Mercury used that attack constantly. Is that the connection this teen had with the Sailor Senshi? Had he been the one to teach them to fight?

"Mercury Power, Make up!" Another flash of light joined the first, however this one was centered around Ryoga himself. Nephrite could only watch in abstract horror and amazement at what was happening right in front of him.

"I don't believe it! You _are_ Sailor Mercury!" Nephrite exclaimed. His surprise soon turned to malicious joy as he began to laugh maniacally. "This is too perfect! I'll be able to eliminate two annoyances at the same time!"

"Just try it, pal!" Mercury shouted, leaping up towards Nephrite.

"Starlight Attack!" The blast was right on target, however it completely failed to slow down the Senshi as she punched right through it. The blast exploded against the ground beneath her, sending Mercury flying even further up. "Impossible! How'd you do that?"

"The outfit makes all the difference!" Mercury cried, getting up to Nephrite's level before cupping her fists together and bringing them down on Nephrite's head with all her might. The hammer blow knocked the dark general clear out of the sky, causing him to hit the ground with enough force to crack the asphalt.

"Shishi Hokodan!" The follow up blast was enough to put Nephrite into a crater. As Mercury came down, she pulled her fist back, fully intent to end this battle with one last punch. Unfortunately, she hit nothing but the street, as Nephrite rolled back to his feet before she landed. Cursing herself slightly, Mercury tried to recover and get back to her feet, only to get nailed in the face by a punch with a hell of a lot more power behind it than she had been expecting. Mercury went flying back from the blow, landing roughly in a crouch.

"It looks like I've been underestimating you." Nephrite said smugly, raising his hands. "Perhaps I should stop holding back." Nephrite rose one arm and suddenly two Nephrite's appeared on either side of him, then two more, and so on until there were 8 Nephrite clones on either side of the original.

"O Regulus, star of Leo, shining in the southern night sky," The 17 Nephrite's spoke in unison, "grant me your power!" with that, the sixteen Nephrite clones rose into the air and rearranged themselves before shining white and becoming glowing spheres. Mercury briefly realized they had taken the shape of a constellation before the form of a lion materialized in the air and came to life.

"The hell?" Mercury muttered, getting back to her feet just as the blue lion touched down on the ground. She didn't have much time to react before the giant beast pounced on her. Mercury gasped out in pain as a large claw dug into her side, tearing her fuku and drawing blood. With a grunt, she planted her legs into the lion's belly and hurled it with all her might, sending it straight into a street light. Even though the light pole bent from the impact, the lion didn't seem too affected. It just got back up as if nothing had happened.

"Damn it, Shishi Hokodan!" The lion pounced again and got caught in midair by the blunt chi wave. Once again, it flew straight into the street light, this time knocking it over completely. It still wasn't finished though, and got right back up.

"O Hamal, star of Aries..." Mercury looked away from the lion momentarily to see Nephrite once again cloning himself and reciting a spell, clearly about to summon some other animal to assist him. Mercury didn't have much time to worry about that, though, as she was once again pounced by Leo and forced to the ground.

"Stupid lion..." Mercury muttered, holding the lion's mouth open with her hands as it vainly attempted to tear her throat out. This wasn't going very well, and any second now she'd have some other annoyance to deal with.

"Get...off!" Mercury lashed out with her left leg, nailing Leo right in the testicles with the tip of her boot. The mystical lion let out a bizarre sound that was like a cross between a gurgle, a scream and a whimper before it simply fell off of her and disappeared into dust. As Mercury got up, however, she noticed a blue ram was now heading straight for her.

"Screw this. Bubble Spray!" In an instant the mist blanketed the entire area and the ram simply vanished. Mercury blinked a few times when she saw that, not expecting that effect. Apparently, her mist could cancel magic attacks.

"So it's not totally useless..." Mercury muttered, heading for cover. Her side was bleeding pretty badly, and Nephrite was probably just lying in wait for the mist to clear. And once the mist cleared, he'd probably just start making more animals again.

'Damn it, I need a plan.' Mercury thought, stumbling through her own mist while cradling the wound in her side. Nephrite glanced around in the mist in annoyance, unable to see so much as a shadow within it. With a scoff, he started floating higher until he eventually cleared it completely, looking down into the mist with an expression of disdain.

"You cannot hide forever, Sailor Mercury!" Nephrite bellowed into the mist. Unfortunately for him, he received no reply. There went his plan to locate her by sound, it seemed. Nephrite grumbled to himself about annoying girls in short skirts as he looked at the pole stuck in his right hand, figuring he might as well pull it out while he has the time.

'Damn it, I'm losing blood. I won't be able to keep this mist up much longer...' Mercury thought to herself. That was when she spotted the shadow of Nephrite above the mist, smirking slightly to herself upon seeing him. 'Perfect.' As she positioned herself just below him, Mercury hunched over into a horse stance and crossed her arms in front of her body. She closed her eyes and began to gather her chi as well, thinking of the most depressing thoughts she could manage.

'What's this?' Nephrite thought to himself, gazing curiously into the mist, "I sense immense human energy." The dark general started glancing around, trying to locate the source of this disturbance. That's when he noticed a light slowly building beneath him. Unfortunately, he noticed a bit too late.

"SAI DAI KYU SHISHI HOKODAN!" Mercury screamed at the top of her lungs. Nephrite barely had time to gape before the massive column of energy hit him head on, dragging him skyward at high speed. After going up nearly 100 meters, the orb successfully managed to pass Nephrite, allowing the general to regain his position floating in midair. It only lasted about two seconds though, since the blast almost immediately came right back down and dragged Nephrite with it.

The Shishi Hokodan hit the ground with incredible force, punching a crater in the ground several meters deep and even more meters wide. At the very center of this crater stood Sailor Mercury, and at her feet was Nephrite. The mist had been completely dispersed by the explosion.

"I'm not yet beaten..." Nephrite muttered, slowly but surely getting back to his feet. He was bleeding pretty badly now, and his uniform was barely in one piece anymore. He was wobbling on his feet, but for the most part seemed perfectly able to fight. Unfortunately for him, Mercury was just as willing to fight, despite the large hole the lion had torn in her side.

"Damn it, just stay down already." Mercury muttered. She clenched her fist and struck Nephrite full in the sternum, hitting hard enough to momentarily lift the general off his feet. She followed this punch up with a left hook, and then a right uppercut. Nephrite was lifted clear out of the crater by the final punch, landing roughly on his back just at the rim.

"You are indeed strong, Sailor Mercury..." Nephrite muttered, coughing up a bit of green blood as he got back to his feet. Mercury leapt from the crater with a spinning kick, fully intent to take Nephrite's head off with the blow. Unfortunately for her, he caught her leg and countered with a punch to the abdomen, hurling the blue haired girl across the crater.

"But I am still stronger. Prepare yourself, Sailor Mercury! I will no longer show you mercy!" Nephrite shouted. He crossed his arms, as if to fire another starlight attack. However, instead he uncrossed his arms after the orb had formed and grasped it firmly with his right hand. The starlight energy flowed into his arm and collected around his clenched fist, causing his hand to shine a bright white.

"Starlight..." Nephrite cried out, cocking his fist back as if getting ready to punch. Mercury merely stood her ground on the other side of the crater, confident that the fuku would protect her from the brunt of the magical blast. "...Blitz!" Nephrite practically teleported across the gap between them. Before Mercury had blinked, his glowing fist was deeply implanted in her abdomen.

"You say your outfit protects you from my magics..." Nephrite growled out, watching as the surprised girl was bent in half around his fist. "...Too bad my Leo tore it open." With these words, the orb of energy Nephrite had shoved into Mercury's wound exploded, sending the stunned Senshi hurtling backwards. The pain was almost unbearable. Clearly, Nephrite didn't believe in fighting fair, as he had deliberately unleashed the full power of his attack into Mercury's wound. The blue haired girl hit the ground and bounced like a rock off the surface of a pond, hitting the corner of a building spine first. Mercury opened her mouth in a silent scream of pain, wanting to cry out but unable to voice it as the sharp brick corner of the building dug painfully into the small of her back. She feel to the ground like a limp doll, having hit the building hard enough to send spider web cracks down both sides of the building.

Mercury hit the ground and curled up into a ball, holding her abdomen wound in pain while her spine screamed in protest from the impact with the wall. She could see Nephrite approaching slowly, his green blood staining his body and clothes. However, despite all his open wounds, he still didn't seem like he was going to fall anytime soon.

"How the mighty have fallen. It seems you don't have anything left." Nephrite muttered. Ryoga blinked a few times, noticing that she was back in her normal clothes. When had the transformation failed? She hadn't even noticed. As Nephrite got close, he lashed out with his foot and struck Ryoga in the claw wound again, earning another cry of pain from the blue haired girl.

"So pathetic." He muttered smugly, grabbing Ryoga by the neck and easily lifting the small girl into the air. Ryoga glared down at her tormentor, kicking him a few times in the chest and shoulders. It didn't seem to do much. Ryoga felt too weak to put any power behind the blows. "You were indeed a worthy opponent. But it seems your fight is over." Nephrite said, tightening his grip slightly. Ryoga's vision started swimming as her lungs burned for the need of air. She increased her struggles, however they were even weaker with the lack of oxygen.

'Damn it, I can't let this bastard beat me.' Ryoga thought, gripping at Nephrite's fingers and trying to pry them off her throat. She was getting lightheaded. This wasn't good.

"What's wrong, Ryoga? Need some help?" A voice said from seemingly nowhere. It sounded familiar. In fact, it sounded a lot like Konatsu.

"Of course he does. Ryoga's useless without us." That one was definitely Ranma. Where were they? Why did it sound like their voices weren't coming from any specific location?

'Shut up, Ranma. I'm fine on my own.' Ryoga thought, angry at the pseudo-Ranma's comment.

"Is that so? How many Youma have you killed, Ryoga? Your magic attack is useless. Not even the Shishi Hokodan beat any youmas. You always needed help to finish them off. You can't fend for yourself." Ranma mocked, making Ryoga even angrier.

'That isn't true, Ranma!' Ryoga thought angrily. She didn't even realize she was starting to hallucinate from a lack of oxygen. Didn't matter much, she'd suffocate soon at this rate.

"What are you talking about? I've killed more youma than you can shake a stick at! I even beat the last big general guy! I've always been stronger than you, you just never wanted to admit it." Ranma taunted. Ryoga started to glow suddenly and twitch slightly in Nephrite's grasp, causing the general to raise an eyebrow. For some reason, he felt like he was forgetting something. Something very important. He tightened his grip, just in case.

'Shut up, damn it! I can beat you any day of the week, Ranma! You've never been better than me! I can kill Youma just as well as you can!' Ryoga insisted. The glow got stronger, much to Nephrite's annoyance. Why did he get the feeling he was forgetting something?

"Than prove it, Pig Boy! Kick his Dark General ass!" Ranma yelled in Ryoga's mind. Nephrite gasped in shock as he suddenly felt a remarkable jump in ambient human energy. The air was soaked with it. What was going on?

'Oh great god of chaos. He's reaching his peak!' Nephrite thought, remembering that this fight started in the first place because the White Crystal had directed him to Ryoga Hibiki. He also remembered what had happened to the last two Youma that had been on the receiving end of an angry human who had just hit their peak potential. They had been completely annihilated.

Nephrite put all his strength into his grip, trying to crush the girl's windpipe. It was too late, however. Ryoga's eyes shot open suddenly, revealing a pair of frightening looking eyes. Her irises had changed shape and color, now being an intense golden pentagon. Her hands reached up and pried open Nephrite's grip with ease, followed by a kick to the chest that sent Nephrite flying across the street.

"What the...Where did this power come from?" Nephrite muttered in surprise, getting back to his feet. He looked towards Ryoga in surprise as the girl was bathed in another corona of light, much like when he initially transformed into Sailor Mercury.

"Another transformation?" Nephrite muttered. He didn't care though. He'd finish her off while she was distracted. He once again crossed his arms in preparation for the Starlight Attack, pumping all the power he could manage into the orb as he reached out and grabbed it with his right hand.

"Starlight Blitz!" Nephrite cried out. He rushed across the distance between them with his fist cocked back and ready to hit. However, before he got there, Ryoga's transformation finished. Nephrite struck with all his might, fully intent on blowing the girl away.

Ryoga caught his fist like it was nothing. The following explosion didn't even cause her to lose her grip on Nephrite's hand.

"Good bye." Ryoga muttered, pulling her other fist back. Nephrite's eyes widened in terror as he watched a strange energy start to gather around the cocked fist, something he was totally unfamiliar with. Ryoga didn't even call out a spell as she punched, but the attack was just as potent none the less. Nephrite couldn't even scream as the blow literally blew a hole in his torso, utterly obliterating his lungs and other major organs. The White Crystal shot out of the hole in his torso and hit the far wall, clattering to the ground. It had been in his jacket when the blow came, and had been pushed right through Nephrite's body by the blow.

Nephrite opened and closes his mouth wordlessly before falling over on his back, very dead. In his last moments, Nephrite did manage to take in the odd new transformation. Ryoga was now decked out in an odd golden armor. She still had the short blue skirt and the white leotard, however she now also sported a golden breastplate, golden belt, golden boots that rose up to her knees and a gold gauntlet on her right arm. Curiously, the left one was absent. Her Tiara seemed to still be intact, however it had changed shape, now being more of a cross between a crown and a crest. It now wrapped around her head entirely, and had a metallic V shaped design sticking out around the central jewel.

"It's over." Ryoga muttered. She was suddenly overcome by wooziness and fell to her knees, her transformation dissolving around her. Ryoga blinked a few times in astonishment as her normal clothes returned and her eyes took on their usual appearance again.

"What...just happened?" She muttered, looking over at Nephrite's corpse as it slowly transformed into a rainbow light and floated away. Clearly, she had won. However, she wasn't entirely sure how. What was that weird power she had felt? Why did it feel so...familiar?

"Ugh...I'm definitely going to need a vacation after this." With those words, Ryoga got to her feet and headed back in the direction she left her pack, wanting nothing more than to go home in peace.

As Ryoga walked off, a figure emerged from the shadows of a nearby alleyway, looking towards Nephrite's decomposing corpse with mild curiosity.

"Interesting." He muttered, bending over and picking up the gore covered White Crystal. "Very interesting indeed."

* * *

To be Continued.

Current Cross Count: 7

Note: I've moved the counter to the bottom of the chapter to be nicer. Now, all crossovers up to and including this chapter are in the counter.

Author's Notes:

Holy Crap, what an update! This chapter is almost TWICE as long as the previous one! And it was practically all about Ryoga! Don't worry though, that won't happen again anytime soon. Expect to see a hell of a lot more screen time given to Ranma, Konatsu and the other people of Nerima in the upcoming chapters.

Next time: With Nephrite dead, Queen Beryl decides to turn to a new strategy. Zoisite starts targeting people around Nerima in search of Rainbow Crystals, and Kunzite seems to have his own agenda involving Nephrite's White Crystal. What could this mean? And how will Ranma and the others deal with a two pronged assault? All this and more in the next chapter of Bishonen Senshi Sailor Moon: Thunder Storm.

Ryo-Wolf


	7. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma, though I'd figure that that's a given. I also don't own Sailor moon, though if you thought I did you have mental problems. As for the many other series I've crossed with, I don't own those either.

* * *

Ryu sighed to himself as he gazed around the small, uninteresting break room. It was almost like a cross between a locker room and a waiting room, with tiled walls and floors as well as a series of couches and a rack full of magazines. On the other side of the room were a row of lockers, most likely reserved for the regulars. Overhead, a dusty florescent lamp hung, illuminating the room in its harsh light while simultaneously giving off an annoyingly constant hum. The air was stale and cold, like one would expect from a room with so little circulation. He was underground, after all, and only a small duct on the roof in the far corner served to move the air around.

"You Kumon?" A man in a well fitting suit asked, pointing at Ryu. He was so stereotypically Yakuza one would almost suspect he was wearing a Halloween costume, with his thick mirrored sunglasses and black suit. Why anyone would wear sunglasses at night in an underground building was a mystery. Maybe he thought he looked cool.

"Yeah, that's me." Ryu answered, sitting up on the uncomfortable couch. He had taken to lying down after realizing just how uncomfortable it was to sit up straight on the pathetic excuse for a piece of furniture. Lying down wasn't much better, but it was still slightly more bearable.

"You're up next, so don't even think about leaving the premises before the fight." The thug said, trying to sound threatening.

"Right." Ryu responded, lying back down. He resisted the urge to scoff at the guy. Like this guy could do shit to stop him from leaving. With another sigh, his thoughts instead turned to a certain blue haired girl that had given him the slip a few days ago. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small tag. It had torn off her pack when she took it from him. He had hoped it would have given him a hint as to who she was or where she lived, but it was just the washing instructions.

'I wonder where that girl is now. She looked just like my old girlfriend. It's a shame I let her get away.' Ryu thought to himself, lost in his musings momentarily. He had lost complete track of time, not even noticing a good ten minutes past until two medics walked past him with a guy on a stretcher.

"Hey, Kumon. You're up." The Yakuza thug suddenly said. Ryu just nodded and got to his feet, stashing the tag away again and following the thug towards the main attraction. The stadium itself was fairly huge, considering the entire thing was underground. It probably cost a small fortune to dig it all out, but it had clearly been worth it. Not only were the tickets ridiculously expensive, but the bets were all high stakes deals, with a minimum spending limit well above what Ryu could ever reasonably get a hold of. Despite that, the stands were packed with screaming audience members. Whoever built this place was definitely getting his money's worth.

"And now, we begin the semi finals! These two young men have fought amazingly thus far, and now it's time for them to face off!" The announcer's voice reverberated around the Stadium as Ryu walked out through the large gates and into the main ring. The fighting area itself was fairly simple, with no actual ring to speak of. It was just a very large empty space surrounded on all sides by 12 foot high walls, atop which the bleachers sat. The ground was a tiled concrete, and one could tell just by looking at the cracked and shattered surface of the tiles in question that they went through great levels of abuse. As soon as Ryu was in the ring, the walls behind him shut, closing off the pathway completely.

"And here the fighters are now! On the right side of the field, a newcomer to our stadium and a fierce competitor, Ryu Kumon!" There was a chorus of cheers from the audience. Probably people who won bets on his previous fights. He wasn't egotistical enough to think he had any fans in the stands.

"And on the left side of the field, a returning fighter who has quite the following, Yun Lee!" The crowd went absolutely wild as the doorway on the other side of the ring slammed closed. Upon seeing the fighter, Ryu raised an eyebrow, almost not believing what he saw. The two were walking towards the center of the ring, eying one another carefully. The boy was wearing a white Kung Fu shirt and black pants, with a pair of yellow bracers tightly wrapped around his forearms. He also had a long pigtail braid reaching about mid back, and an annoyingly familiar smirk.

"The fight starts in five minutes, ladies and gentlemen! Fighters, get ready, and people, PLACE YOUR BETS!" This was typical. The two fighters were expected to just stand around and look tough for 5 minutes while the gamblers watching had time to make their wagers. Attacking during this period would get you an instant disqualification, and they really didn't like it when a fighter got disqualified. Judging from the way they made it abundantly clear he should do everything in his power _not_ to be disqualified, Ryu was fairly certain they would try to break his kneecaps with a sledgehammer if he did anything stupid.

"You remind me of someone." Ryu muttered, pointing at Yun accusingly. The resemblance to Ranma was almost uncanny. It was kind of disturbing in a way.

"Is that so?" Yun asked, a bit wary. "Should I be worried then?" The boy started doing simple stretches, barely giving Ryu a second thought.

"Yes, you should. I didn't like him. In fact, it's his fault I had to abandon my old art." Ryu replied. He too began to perform a few stretches, but he was already fairly limber from his previous matches.

"You abandoned your art? Maybe you should forfeit. I'd hate to wipe the floor with a rookie." Yun said with a smirk on his face. Ryu only frowned slightly in response.

"The bets are closed! No more bets for this fight will be taken! All wagers are locked in!" The announcer shouted, though Ryu wasn't paying attention to him.

"It's really unfortunate for you that you look like Ranma." Ryu muttered, "Now I'm not going to hold back." As Ryu said this, he bent over and lifted his pant leg, revealing a band of bars tied around his leg. With a simple movement, he removed them from both legs, letting them hit the ground.

"Fighters, get ready!" The announcer shouted.

"Weights? Tch, I'm really scared." Yun muttered sarcastically. Ryu didn't respond, taking off his gloves instead. The wrist bands on each one hit the ground with a heavy thump.

"You should be," Ryu said, unstrapping his belt. It hit the ground hard enough to crack the concrete tile, "You won't even know what hit you."

"FIGHT!"

* * *

Bishonen Senshi Sailor Moon

Chapter 6

Thunder Storm part 1

* * *

Deep within the bowels of her dark lair, Queen Beryl stood before the resting chamber of her almighty ruler. Beryl had been waiting for this moment for what felt like an eternity. Finally, she'd be able to reawaken the sleeping giant!

"Awaken, oh great ruler," Beryl began, bowing before the large cocoon-like sack in which her ruler slept, "with this great energy, return to life!" Beryl lifted her hands towards the cocoon, where the massive orb of energy that Nephrite had brought her floated in all its glory. With the combined energy of Seiji Sawamura and Kouji Kudo, the orb was almost twice the size of Beryl herself, and let out a glow so intense it illuminated the entire cavern. As she offered the orb towards the cocoon, it exploded into a beam of power, flowing forth from Beryl's hands and into the cocoon with the force of a tsunami.

Bubbles started to form within the sack cocoon, and shortly after a dark shadow appeared, almost like a ripple on the surface of the ocean.

"This human energy has revived me from my sleep. However, I can still feel my consciousness drawing towards the depths of slumber. Bring me the Ginzuishou! Only then will I truly be reborn!" The cocoon spoke with a grating, almost robotic voice. And as it spoke, the dark shadow writhed and changed shape, though never truly gained any definition.

"But we know nothing of its whereabouts." Queen Beryl pointed out. The dark shadow within the cocoon writhed a few times, taking on various meaningless shapes.

"When the Seven Monsters have been revived along with the Rainbow Crystals, the Ginzuishou will shine!" The cocoon shouted, causing Queen Beryl's face to lighten up in joy. Finally, a clue to finding the Ginzuishou! Now all she needed was a means of locating the Rainbow Crystals. A beacon that would resonate and respond to their presence should be easy enough to create.

"I shall instruct Zoisite to search for the Seven Monsters immediately. The Ginzuishou will soon be ours!"

* * *

"It's been really peaceful lately, don't you think?" Ranma muttered wistfully, looking skyward as he strolled down the road. Luna was sitting on his shoulder and cleaning the back of her paws, not really paying attention to what Ranma was saying.

"I haven't had to transform once in over a week. This is great. I hope this keeps up. The less time I spend in that stupid outfit, the better." Ranma said. He was mostly talking to himself though.

"You should just get used to it, Ranma. It'll make things easier for you in the long run." Luna responded, and then went back to grooming herself.

"Tch. Like I'm gonna get used to that stupid thing." Ranma muttered, continuing on his way. School was out, he was bored, and he had nothing better to do. Nabiki was still doing her best to make him miserable, so avoiding the Dojo at all costs was a good idea. Not to mention Pops seemed to be on edge whenever Ranma was around. 'He's hiding something from me, I just can't figure out what it is.' He thought to himself.

With the Dojo out of the question thanks to Nabiki's quest for vengeance, it didn't leave Ranma with many options on where to go. Shampoo still refused to talk to him, and hanging around the Ucchan's all day would just be asking for trouble from Akane. He hadn't seen Ryoga or Konatsu in awhile. However, Ukyo had told him that Konatsu hadn't been back to the Ucchan's all week, and Ryoga was almost certainly lost anyhow.

'I can't stick around here though. If I wait around in the open any longer, the Sailor Senshi fan club are gonna hunt me down.' Ranma thought. Nabiki has been directing every question about the Sailor Senshi towards Ranma, and ever since his conversation with Yuka and Sayuri, those two had been intent on including him in all their Sailor Senshi related talks. Now, he must have at least 10 or 15 girls (and guys) looking to him for info on the Senshi. It was an awkward situation that he would like to avoid entirely, especially since a lot of them started to suspect that he knew a lot more than he was letting on.

"Ranma, I'm hungry. Why are we wandering around anyway?" Luna complained.

"I'm bored and have nothing better to do. And if you're so hungry, why didn't you stay behind at the dojo?" Ranma responded, continuing his aimless meanderings. Luna seemed to glare at the pigtailed boy, but he mostly ignored it.

"You haven't fed me once since I became your advisor. I get hungry you know! If it wasn't for Kasumi, I would have starved to death!" Luna ranted. She was getting really sick of Ranma's general neglect.

"Hey, I gave you that peanut butter and jelly sandwich, didn't I?" Ranma pointed out. Luna narrowed her eyes at him.

"That thing was toxic! It tasted like rotten garlic and sawdust! I mean real food, Ranma!" Luna was standing on her back legs and gesturing with her front two wildly now. She was clearly angry about this.

"Hey, I don't know what squirrels eat. Can't you just forage for nuts or something?" Ranma shrugged, causing Luna to wobble slightly from her position on his shoulder. Sometimes, Ranma's delusions about her species was really, really annoying. This was one such time. It was something she'd have to deal with though. Ranma acting delusional was better than him screaming and running for his life.

"Just...get me something to eat..." Luna muttered in defeat, slumping as much as she could without falling of Ranma's shoulder.

"Alright, fine. I'll swing by Ryoga's place and get you something to eat. Hell, maybe he's home. That'll give me something to do." Ranma said, leaping up to a fence post. Luna slipped off his shoulder as a result, hanging onto his shirt for dear life.

"You know, you're a bit too big to sit on my shoulder like that." Ranma muttered, Grabbing Luna off his back and holding the black squirrel in his arms. "Alright, hang on. I'm gonna take a short cut to Ryoga's."

-A little while Later-

Ranma chuckled to himself slightly as he walked down the road, Ryoga's house in plain view ahead. The reason for his mirth was walking slowly behind him, shaking like a leaf and stuttering to herself.

"Oh come on, you big baby. It wasn't that bad." Ranma said, looking down at Luna. The squirrel gave him a look like he had grown seven new heads and declared himself the king of the hydras.

"Are you kidding me? You were clinging to the side of a train! I thought I was going to die! Why can't you just buy a ticket like a normal person!" Luna screeched, clearly hysterical. Ranma's idea of a shortcut was absurd at best. It was bad enough when he started running over and through several buildings, but he actually had the nerve to jump onto a moving train! And he didn't sit on top of the train, oh no. He grabbed onto the side and clung to it one handed, with Luna held tightly in his other hand. It was absolute madness. She was sure the pigtailed boy was going to fall off at any moment, and yet he somehow managed to stay on until the train came to its next stop.

"What's the fun in that? Train rides are only worth it if you are outside. The people on the inside don't know what they're missing." Ranma answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Luna was still looking at him like he was crazy.

'She'll get over it.' Ranma thought, walking up to Ryoga's house. He approached the front door and opened it without a care, causing him to promptly get buried under a pile of appliances and furniture.

"What the hell is this!" Ranma shouted, pulling himself out of the pile and glancing around. He spotted Konatsu nearby, reading a book and glancing at him curiously.

"Ryoga's mom booby-traps the entire house. You gotta be more careful when you open the doors in this place." Konatsu said, as if it should have been totally obvious.

"What are you doing here, Konatsu?" Ranma asked, pushing the pile of crap aside so that he could close the door. Luna dashed into the house while Ranma was doing this, so that she wouldn't be locked out. "No, scratch that. When did Ryoga's mom come back?"

"Ryoga's mom? She hasn't come back. What gave you that idea?" Konatsu dropped her book on the couch and crossed the room to the door. Ranma thought at first that she was moving to clean up the mess, but then he realized that she was resetting the trap.

"Wait, you've been booby trapping the house?" Ranma asked, though he had no real reason to. It was quite obvious that Konatsu was positioning a large quantity of hard, blunt objects above the door so that they would fall on anyone who opened it.

"Of course not. These are all Ryoga's mother's traps," Konatsu said, tying a quick release knot in the rope, "I just put them back up whenever someone sets them off." Konatsu finished up what she was doing and hopped back to the ground, wiping some dirt off her pants when she landed. She had changed out of the outfit she arrived in, which Ranma was lucky enough to never see. She had since started raiding Ryoga's mother's closet for clothes, which is where she acquired the simple white blouse and yellow slacks that she was now wearing.

"So, what brings you here?" Konatsu asked, turning towards the confused looking Saotome boy.

"Boredom mostly." Ranma said. Konatsu seemed to nod in understanding, "Oh, and Luna's hungry." As Ranma said this, he turned towards the cat in question. However, she was no longer on the couch like she was before. Rather, she was climbing into an open fridge, trying to forage for food in the lower shelves and drawers.

"Boredom I can understand. There's nothing to do in this house." Konatsu said, grabbing the book she had previously been reading and plopping herself on the couch. "All I can do is read books, and the Hibikis don't seem to own very many books." Ranma briefly noticed that Amawa was walking down the stairs and heading towards the kitchen, but decided to ignore him.

"So, where's Ryoga?" Ranma asked, though he figured he already knew the answer.

"Beats me. Haven't seen him all week." Konatsu replied. Well, seems like Ranma was right on the money on his assumption.

"I'm Hom-AAHH!" The door opened suddenly followed by a brief avalanche, causing both teens to turn towards the door. Seems Ryoga wasn't expecting the trap anymore than Ranma was.

"Oh Ryoga, you're back." Konatsu muttered, glancing over her book to look at the boy. "Have a pleasant trip?" Ryoga merely glared at the kunoichi from underneath the pile of stuff.

* * *

There was an odd silence that settled upon the Kuno Estate that afternoon, as well as a feeling of tension that was so thick one could almost see it in the air. It was like the calm before a storm. Two forces were preparing to cross paths in a violent and destructive fashion, and the world was merely preparing itself for the worst.

"Vile woman! What have you done with my Pigtailed Girl posters!" The outcry of rage broke the calm around the estate. Within the building, the sound of walls been knocked down could be heard as Kuno went on his rampage.

"I fed them to Midorigame-kun! That's what you get for using my statue of my Ranma-sama as a training dummy!" Kodachi shouted back. Judging from the way explosions started to rock the home, she was fighting back as well.

"You fed them to that disgusting beast? You foul wench, I'll make luggage out of him!" Kuno bellowed before storming out of the house. Kodachi was right at his heels, throwing various house hold objects at her brother.

"Don't you dare hurt my Midorigame-kun!" She screamed. Kuno reached the edge of the pond and grabbed his bokken from where it was sheathed at his side. He unsheathed it and slashed the pond in the same motion, parting the waters like the red sea in a straight line across the entire body of water. Hmm, it seems like he missed. Where was that blasted reptile hiding?

"You bastard! Don't hurt my Midorigame-kun!" Kodachi screamed again, grabbing her brother around the waist and trying to pull him away from the pond.

"Get off me, woman!" Kuno shouted and struggled with his sister. "I'm sure the Pigtailed Girl would like a pair of Alligator skin boots!" Kuno got closer to the water, dragging Kodachi behind him as he prepared to strike again. Kodachi suddenly let go of him, causing Kuno to stumble forward from the unexpected loss of weight. As he attempted to regain his balance, Kodachi pulled some powder out of somewhere and blew it in his face. Kuno could feel his muscles seizing up.

"You...Dirty...Whore..." Kuno grumbled out, wobbling in place as the paralysis powder started to take effect. He noticed Kodachi was now holding a large mallet behind her head, as if preparing for a golf swing.

"Farewell, dear brother!" She exclaimed, hitting Kuno with the mallet and sent him flying in a fashion that would make the greatest golf players proud. He soared into the distance in a perfect arch, quickly disappearing from view.

Kuno hit the ground a good mile or so away and bounced, landing a second time far more gracefully than the first. It was a good thing he had built up immunity to Kodachi's poisons and such over the years. The paralysis had already worn off.

"Damn my sister and her antics." Kuno grumbled, wiping the dirt from his hakama as he got to his feet. Kuno glanced around a bit to try and gain his bearings. How was he going to enact his sweet vengeance if he didn't even know where he was?

"Hmm...I seem to be in the market." Kuno said to himself, noticing the nearby shops and stores. "Kodachi must have been practicing. This is indeed a record distance."

After establishing the proper direction to travel in from the impact craters he left, Kuno set off in the direction of home with thoughts of retribution on his mind. He came across a raised walkway and started to cross it before stopping halfway, trying once again to locate the direction he needed to go. This is when he noticed something rather unusual. Nabiki Tendo and an odd, uniformed man seemed to be deep in conversation on the lower level. From the looks of things, they were being very hostile with one another.

"Has Nabiki Tendo finally earned the ire of the criminal underworld? This is a day I have feared was coming for a long while." Kuno mused to himself. That was when the uniformed man pulled a strange object out of his coat and held it in Nabiki's direction. The object started to shine and unleash a yellow light, at which point Nabiki started screaming in pain.

"What the..." Kuno unsheathed his weapon and leapt off the walkway, landing near the uniformed man and lashing out with his bokken. The man seemed to notice his entrance, however, and quickly floated away. Nabiki Tendo fell to the ground, clutching her chest in pain.

"What have you done to Nabiki Tendo, sorcerer!" Kuno roared, standing at the ready and glaring at the floating man. The sorcerer slowly hovered down until his feet touched the ground, keeping his eyes on Kuno. In his right hand, he clenched a strange crystal.

"K...Kuno...What are you doing here?" Nabiki got out between labored breaths. She was sweating heavily and clutching her chest in pain. Whatever that crazy man did, it had hurt like she couldn't believe.

"Save your strength, Nabiki Tendo. I will vanquish this foul vermin." Kuno answered, never taking his eyes off Zoisite.

"Vermin! Why you..." Zoisite growled and lifted his left hand towards Kuno, "Zoi!" A pulse of force seemed to erupt from his palm. Kuno took the blast head on, but stood his ground.

"Your dark powers are no match for me, sorcerer!" Kuno roared, facing the attack like a man staring into an intense wind. After a few moments of punishment, Kuno managed to take a single step forward. Then another, and another. Soon he was running at Zoisite as fast as he could, practically ignoring the attack. Kuno swung his sword at the Dark General's face, barely connecting at all, but still managing to cut his face slightly.

"You bastard, you harmed my beautiful face!" Zoisite cried out, touching the cut tentatively. He glared at Kuno suddenly, lifting both hands towards the kendoist and unleashed an intense blast of sakura petals. Kuno was hurled from the attack, landing on his back near where Nabiki was struggling to get back to her feet.

"Damn it, Kuno...you're useless..." Nabiki mumbled, getting back to her feet and glaring at Zoisite as he approached again.

"Give it up, girl. I've already released your true self. It's only a matter of time now." Zoisite said simply, raising the black crystal. "Now give me the Rainbow Crystal!"

"NO!" Nabiki screamed, closing her eyes shut and throwing her arms out towards Zoisite. The black crystal started to glow before it was inexplicably stripped from Zoisite's hand and thrown over his shoulder.

"What..." Zoisite managed to get out, before the full implications of this occurrence hit him; literally. It felt like he had just been hit head on by a car. Zoisite was lifted off his feet and tossed back by the unseen attacker, landing near the black crystal.

Nabiki opened her eyes slowly, looking mildly confused by the fact she hadn't been attacked yet. That was when she noticed Zoisite climbing to his feet a distance away. That's funny, there was a crack in the asphalt that went from where she stood to where Zoisite had previously been. Where did that come from?

"You little bitch..." Zoisite growled, grabbing the black crystal as he got back to his feet. "How dare you attack me!"

"Attack him? But I..." Nabiki stopped and looked down at her hands briefly. She idly noticed that Kuno was getting back to his feet, but she had other things on her mind. Now, Nabiki was a smart girl. It didn't take her very long to look at the puzzle pieces in front of her and figure out how to put them together. She had apparently attacked the General. There was a crack in the ground that seemed to travel right to where he had been standing. She hadn't moved, but she had thrown her hands out towards him and tried to will him not to harm her.

Conclusion?

She was telekinetic.

"Knave, now dare you strike the blue thunder with such a feminine attack! Have you no masculine pride?" Kuno growled, clearly having regained consciousness. Nabiki glanced at her hands momentarily before spotting a small chunk of asphalt that had been broken during whatever attack she had unleashed. Curious, she held her hand out towards it and tried to grab it with her mind, imagining it lifting into the air. Miraculously, the small chunk of asphalt started to vibrate before it floated skyward.

Oh, she was going to enjoy this.

"What the hell is going on here?" Nabiki turned around when she heard the voice, spotting three fuku clad teenagers standing at the edge of the raised walkway, looking down at them.

"The Sailor Senshi?" She muttered, rather surprised to see them. Her attention was no longer on Zoisite, which was all the opportunity he needed to point the black crystal at her.

"That's weird. According to the mercury computer, Nabiki is the youma." Mercury muttered, too quiet for those on the lower level to hear her.

"You are too late, Sailor Senshi!" Zoisite shouted. Nabiki cursed to herself and turned around, but it was indeed too late. The yellow light given off by the black crystal enveloped her once again, bringing the pain back to a new level. It was far too intense. She couldn't concentrate at all, making her newfound power useless.

"Help me!" She cried out, still screaming at the top of her lungs. Kuno was already rushing forward, however Zoisite blasted him away without even taking his attention off of Nabiki.

"NABIKI!" Sailor Moon cried out, just as the three senshi leapt from the walkway and charged towards Zoisite. A black hole had opened up in Nabiki's chest, revealing a red crystal to be floating there.

"The Rainbow Crystal is mine!" Zoisite declared, holding his hand out towards the crystal as it shot out of Nabiki's body and flew towards his hand.

"Moon Tiara Action!" Moon's Tiara lanced out and struck Zoisite's hand just as his fingers closed around the crystal, causing him to drop it.

"I don't know what the hell that thing was, but you're putting it back!" Moon shouted, landing in front of Zoisite and kicking him in the face. The dark general was hurled back against the wall by the attack, watching as moon scooped up the Rainbow Crystal. Today just wasn't his day, so many people kept hitting him in the face.

"Are you alright?" Mercury asked, kneeling before the injured Nabiki. She didn't look so hot. In fact, she was starting to glow now. "Moon, I think she's gonna need that crystal back!"

"Give me back the Rainbow Crystal!" Zoisite shouted, getting back to his feet and rushing towards moon.

"Fiend!" Kuno declared, jumping in between the two and slashing Zoisite's hand. "Take care of Nabiki Tendo, Pigtailed Senshi! I'll handle this one."

It was too late for that though. Mercury and Mars, who were both tending to Nabiki, were each hurled back by a sudden wave of pressure that exploded outward from Nabiki's body. A wall of dust suddenly erupted and swirled around the Tendo girl like a tornado, completely enveloping her from view.

"What the hell?" Mars grunted, shielding her eyes from the dust and dirt. The tornado stopped just as quickly as it started, revealing a blue skinned woman where Nabiki had previously been. She was wearing a tight bodice and thigh high leggings, with a loin cloth tied around her waist that hung down to just above her knees. She wore an odd crown on her head as well, which seemed to glow slightly with power.

"No wonder the mercury computer said she was a youma..." Mercury muttered to herself, getting back to her feet.

"It's about time," Zoisite grumbled, "Mystice! Destroy these foolish girls!" The Youma that was once Nabiki only nodded, immediately following Zoisite's command.

"KNAVE!" Kuno bellowed, lashing out with his bokken and striking Zoisite in the temple. The Dark General crumbled to the ground, letting out a feminine cry of pain from the blow.

"What have you done to Nabiki Tendo!" Kuno demanded, pointing his bokken at the downed general. Zoisite grunted as he got back to his feet, feeling something wet drip down his face.

"You...You cut me. How dare you make me bleed!" Zoisite shouted, getting back to his feet and blasting Kuno away. That was when he noticed something odd. The Black crystal was responding.

"Heh, so you are also one of the Seven Monsters?" Zoisite asked. The irony was amazing. "Zoi!" in an instant Kuno was enveloped in a yellow light, letting out his own scream of pain as a hole started to form in his chest.

"Shit, he's doing it to Kuno now!" Moon shouted, spotting Zoisite extracting another Rainbow Crystal from Kuno.

"An opening!" Mystice cried out, gesturing in Moon's direction as a telekinetic burst exploded forth and hit the senshi head on. Moon paid for being distracted, getting hurled into a phone pole by the attack.

"Fire Soul!" Mars shouted, letting lose her blast of flames. And invisible barrier of power seemed to manifest itself in between the youma and the attack, however, and the flame was stopped in its tracks. Mystice gestured towards Mars and the barrier became a blast, blowing a hole in the wall behind Mars when the senshi dodged out of the way.

"So, either of you managed to hit her yet?" Mercury asked, looking towards Moon and Mars as the two senshi formed up on either side of her. Both shook their heads in the negative, neither having been able to break through her defense thus far. That was when a new youma joined the fray. Kuno had become a white skinned man wearing silver samurai armor with a katana in each hand. From the looks of him, he was just as formidable as Mystice.

"Mystice, Bureedo, take care of those senshi." Zoisite commanded, floating skyward, "I'll be back for their Rainbow Crystal later." With those words, the general disappeared in a swirl of sakura petals, leaving the two youma to face off against the three senshi.

"Two against three? Well, at least we've got the advantage of numbers." Mars muttered.

"Two against two, more like. Mercury's magic is useless." Moon added.

"Hey!" Mercury shouted, punching Moon upside the head for the insult.

"Enough of your foolishness! I strike!" Bureedo shouted, running at Moon with a cross strike with both swords.

"Thanks for the warning!" Moon replied, jumping over the attack and vaulting off of Bureedo's helmet. She grabbed her tiara mid jump, twisting around in the air to get a good shot.

"Moon Tiara Action!" The attack took Bureedo full in the back and hurled him back a few meters, causing him to land beneath the raised walkway. "You guys take Nabiki! I've got Kuno handled!" Moon shouted back at the other two, charging after Bureedo with her Tiara ready.

"How nice of her to leave us with the harder one." Mercury muttered, leaping to the side as Mystice sent a telekinetic spike in her direction. The asphalt cracked under the attack as Mercury and Mars both charged towards the youma. Mars went high with a jumping kick, being blocked by another telekinetic barrier. Mercury went low, trying to sweep her legs, only to be blocked by the very same barrier. The two immediately abandoned the separate attacks and both started unleashing blow after blow aimed for her midsection, each one hitting the same invisible shield.

"Shit." Mercury muttered, leaping back and charging her aura. "Shishi hokodan!" The attack exploded forth and parted around the telekinetic barrier like a river flowing around a stone, leaving Mystice totally unharmed. Mars seemed to vanish suddenly, appearing behind the monster and lashing out with a punch aimed for the back of her neck. Mars' knuckles struck a barrier, however Mystice seemed to be fairly startled by it.

"That barrier is spherical. It totally surrounds her body." Mars pointed out.

"You can't break my telekinetic barrier! It is just as strong as my mind." Mystice boasted, grinning at the two senshi.

"Aren't you going to fight back?" Mercury asked, a little surprised to see the youma speaking. These things usually weren't very talkative.

"Why? This is so entertaining. Besides, you'll be easy pickings once you've tired yourselves out with your futile attack." Mystice pointed out. The two senshi just glared at her in response.

"Any ideas?" Mars asked, turning towards Mercury. Mercury had a strange blue visor covering her eyes with data running across it. After a few moments, she smirked.

"Yeah, I do. How much do you think she weighs? 50 kg? 70 tops?" Mercury asked. Mars blinked in confusion, before seeing Mercury rush towards the youma. She stopped short and lashed out with her foot, as if she intended to punt something.

"Hiiiiya!" Mercury grunted. Her foot struck the youma's barrier and kept going, taking the youma and the barrier with it. In an instant the youma was airborne, hurtling through the air and smashing through the wall of a nearby apartment building 4 or 5 stories up.

"How'd you do that?" Mars asked, dumbstruck.

"Her barrier was a perfect sphere. She wasn't bracing it against the ground. Basically, she turned herself into a giant beach ball, so I kicked her." Mercury explained. Mars chuckled a bit, watching as the enraged youma leapt out of the building and landed in front of them.

"You'll regret that!" She shouted, glaring at the two senshi. She was slightly surprised to see that they were both already in motion. Before she had a chance to bring up another barrier, two gloved fists found their way into her face and sent her flying back once again, this time taking out a wall on ground level.

"Sure we will!" Mercury replied as she and Mars followed the Youma into the building.

* * *

Luna pushed against her icy prison with all her might, trying in vain to free herself from this realm of darkness and misery. She could feel the air getting harder to breathe, and she was already losing strength in her limbs from the intense cold. What cruel fate had caused her to come to this? Was this truly how her end would come, frozen in this tiny box, doomed to live forever in darkness?

As the moon cat was beginning to give up hope, a ray of shining light broke forth from the edge of her cell and illuminated the box with its brilliant warmth. Finding new strength, Luna threw her entire body against the parted walls, pleased to find them open even further with little resistance.

"FREEDOM!" Luna bellowed, leaping out of the refrigerator like a bat out of hell. Amawa, who had just opened the fridge to get some milk, did not react favorably to this black blur exploding out from the appliance.

"AAAAAAAH!" She shrieked, jumping back and slamming the fridge door shut, just in case the vile creature had back up. Luna had already darted past and was in the living room, noticing that Ranma and Konatsu weren't where she last saw them and quickly leapt out a nearby open window, deciding to follow her senses to the senshi magic she could feel a ways away.

'How could they leave me to die in the fridge like that?' Luna wondered, still having enough adrenaline pumping through her veins to keep up her break neck speed. "When I get my paws on them, I'm going to give those two such a mauling."

Luna shook some of the frost out of her fur as she continued her high speed sprint. It felt much better to get out of that freezing hellhole. The warm afternoon air was already heating her chilled body, and she was regaining feeling in her limbs now that they weren't frozen anymore. Hmm, from the way she was going, she was almost certain that Ranma and Konatsu were back in Nerima. It'd take her forever to get back there!

"Unless..." Luna muttered, stopping at the edge of a canal with wooden posts leading towards the other end. "...Unless I take Ranma's short cut. Then I could get there pretty fast." The thing was, Ranma's shortcut was fairly absurd. After all, it did involve clinging to the side of a train. However, the moon cat was desperate, and thus began to hop across the posts towards the train station.

* * *

Ryu Kumon sighed a bit to himself as he watched the landscape roll by. He was beginning to get bored of the street fighter life. Ever since his defeat at the hands of Ranma Saotome and the subsequent loss of the Yamasenken, he had lost his purpose in life. How could he resurrect the Kumon Dojo without the Saotome Senken schools? He didn't even remember the original art his father taught in the dojo. The only art his father left to him was the Yamasenken, and now he was forbidden to use it.

'Damn that Ranma...' Ryu thought to himself, clenching his fist, 'beating the snot out of that look alike didn't help my frustration at all.'

If anything, giving the look alike the beat down only made Ryu want a rematch with Ranma even more. That Yun guy was good, but he couldn't hold a candle to Ranma's Umisenken. Ever since he handed that guy his ass on a silver platter, Ryu felt like he had an itch he couldn't scratch. Ranma had been the first person to ever defeat him. And thanks to that bastard, he lost his main style of attack. He had to fight Ranma again. He craved a rematch at this point.

Ryu felt the train coming to a stop and glanced around, wondering if he was at Nerima yet. It was kinda hard to tell from where he was sitting, what with him being on the roof and all.

"Next stop, Nerima. Next stop, Nerima." Ryu heard over the PA system. That was good, he was nearly there. As the train started to pull out again, Ryu noticed a small blur in the corner of his eye. He turned his head and noticed with some confusion that there was a black cat with a moon shaped bald spot on its forehead clinging to the roof of the train for dear life.

"A cat?" Ryu muttered, looking at it curiously as the wind picked up from the speed of the train. 'What's it doing up here?'

For a few moments, Ryu looked at it curiously and wondered how long it had been there without him noticing. It didn't take long for the cat to return his look, and soon the two were locked in a staring contest of sorts. Neither one let up, each staring intently at the other. Ryu wasn't sure why, he just didn't want to lose a staring contest with a cat.

'Do cat's even have eyelids? It wouldn't really be fair if this thing isn't capable of blinking.' Ryu thought to himself, trying to recall every time he had encountered a cat in the past. He didn't know if they did or not. All his memories of cats involved them staring intently into his soul without blinking or even moving.

Just then, Luna blinked. "Aha! I win!" Ryu exclaimed, pointing at the cat in victory. Luna cocked her head and looked at the martial artist like he was insane.

"Don't give me that look." Ryu said, though his voice was fairly hard to hear over the sound of the wind. After a few more moments, the train began to pull into a stop, causing both Ryu and Luna to get to their feet in preparation to abandon ship. Ryu shouldered his pack and leapt off the train, leaping into the terminal and running off before the security guards could catch him for hitching a ride. Within moments he was in the city streets themselves, trying to remember where the hell Ranma lived so he could challenge the bastard.

'Why do I feel like I'm being followed?' Ryu wondered, slowing to a stroll. He tried to concentrate on his surroundings, however he couldn't hear any footsteps but his own. Regardless, he had the feeling of being watched, as if someone was looking intently at his back.

"Who's there?" Ryu demanded, spinning around suddenly and looking down the road for his stalker. No one was there. The street was empty. Glancing down, Ryu corrected that last statement. The street was empty save for a black cat with a bald spot shaped like a crescent moon.

"Why are you following me? Go away. Shoo." Ryu said, waving his hand at the cat in a shooing gesture. It was then that he noticed a pillar of blue green light rising into the sky in the distance, immediately catching his attention.

"What the hell was that?" Ryu muttered. He ran off in the direction of the disturbance, being followed closely by the black cat.

* * *

Mercury panted as the smoke cleared, revealing a totally unharmed Youma in the crater with her. Damn it, that stupid barrier didn't even budge after a perfect Shishi Hokodan!

"I'm getting really sick of that barrier of yours!" Mercury shouted, glaring at Mystice. The Youma looked like it was under a bit of strain itself. That counted as a slight victory in Mercury's book. It had apparently taken a lot of effort to keep that shield up under the onslaught of the Shishi Hokodan.

"You seem to be slowing down a bit, Sailor Mercury." Mystice muttered, her barrier flickering around her. "I think it's about time I started fighting back." The barrier vanished in an instant as Mystice threw her hands up, pointing her palms towards the blue colored Senshi. Mercury didn't have time to react before the psychic onslaught nailed her head on, hurling her against the back wall of the crater.

'Anytime now, Konatsu...' Mercury thought, struggling against the telekinetic attack that was slamming against her like a waterfall.

"Fire Soul!" The youma's concentration was broken when it suddenly burst into flames, causing it cry out in pain as Mars leapt down into the crater.

"You okay?" She asked, looking as Mercury fell out of an imprint in the wall.

"I'm fine." Mercury muttered, watching the Youma flail around in pain. After all this time of fighting it, it turned out a single attack was all it took to take it down. If it wasn't for that stupid barrier, they could have beaten her over half an hour ago.

"Bubble Spray!" Mercury called out, throwing the mist at the Youma. The flames were quenched in an instant, leaving behind a burnt and smoking Youma. As the monster started struggling to its feet, Mercury lashed out with a kick aimed for its forehead, blowing the monster off its feet and knocking it out cold.

"What now? How do we change her back?" Mars asked, grabbing the charred Youma and dragging it out of the crater. This thing was technically Nabiki, after all. If they killed it, wouldn't they also end up killing her?

"I don't know." Mercury answered, pulling out the mercury computer. She didn't get the chance to use it though, as a blast of magical energy tore by them, carrying Sailor Moon with it.

"You are indeed a formidable foe, Sailor Moon. But I, Suupa Bureedo, will come out victorious!" The armor clad youma declared, waltzing confidently down the street towards Mercury and Mars.

"Shit, this Super Burrito guy is tougher than I thought..." Moon muttered, getting back to her feet and clutching her chest in pain.

"That's **SUUPA BUREEDO, **you foul woman! Get it right!" The Youma declared angrily, slashing one of his swords in Moon's direction and sending a crescent shaped blast of magic towards her.

"Put a sock in it, Super Burrito! I've been pronouncing it right the whole time!" Moon shouted back, dodging the projectile and landing near her two comrades.

"Having trouble?" Mercury asked, glancing towards the redhead curiously

"My tiara keeps bouncing off. He doesn't seem to feel my punches through that damn armor, and the Mouku Takabisha doesn't do squat." Moon answered, glaring at the approaching youma. "Not to mention he isn't giving off any heat, so the Hiryuu Shoten Ha is useless. So yes, I need some help."

"Fire Soul!" Mars collected the flames in her hands and launched them at the approaching youma. For a few moments it was bathed in fire, however it seemed to ignore it.

"Foolish wench, my armor is fire proof! Suupa Bureedo Sutoraiku!" The youma slashed at them, once again hurling a crescent shaped magic attack. The senshi leapt away from the attack as it cleaved right through a solid brick wall, cutting it cleanly in two.

"Well, that didn't work." Moon muttered, turning towards Mercury. "Hit him with your mist. Maybe you can make him rust." She was promptly punched upside the head by the blue senshi.

"Do you yield, Sailor Senshi?" Bureedo asked, raising his katanas above his head in preparation for another attack.

"Look out behind you! A three headed monkey!" Mercury suddenly declared, pointing behind the youma. Bureedo lowered his swords and looked at the blue haired girl in confusion.

"Surely you jest." He said. He was then promptly hit upside the head by a light post, sending the poor youma flying a good distance.

"I am _not_ a three headed monkey." The masked man in a tuxedo muttered irritably, dropping the light post he had used as a weapon.

"Great, this guy again." Moon muttered, sighing in annoyance. "Who the hell are you anyway?"

"No one of consequence." He answered. Moon resisted the urge to attack him.

"Not that crap again, tux boy. Gimme a name." Moon responded. The masked man in the tuxedo didn't get a chance to reply, as the Youma he had knocked out of the park was roaring in frustrated rage and charging back into the fray.

"Disrespectful cur!" Suupa Bureedo shouted, rushing past the senshi at top speed and slashing his swords at the insufferable man in the formal wear. Much to the youma's surprise, a cane in the man's right hand seemed to become a sword in his left, which he promptly used to block the attack.

"Who dares assault the greatness of Suupa Bureedo?" The youma growled out, pushing his swords against the single blade held by his opponent.

"I'm not one to give my name to fools." The tuxedo man replied, pushing back. Moon couldn't help but be annoyed by that reply.

"You dare call me a fool! You are a true jester amongst men! What kind of warrior enters the battlefield in a tuxedo?" Bureedo taunted, overwhelming the masked man and tossing him back on his swords and rushing forward for another attack.

"I'm the fool?" The tuxedo man scoffed, dodging the first slash and leaping over the next, "You are the one calling himself Super Burrito!" The Tuxedo man lashed out with his sword, sending sparks flying as his weapon bit into the metallic surface of Bureedo's armor. However, the youma came out completely unscathed and the armor wasn't even scratched by the attack. Behind his mask, the tuxedo wearing man raised an eyebrow, but no one could see it.

"Are you three going to just stand there gawking, or are you going to assist me?" He asked, turning towards the three senshi who seemed to be perfectly content in watching.

"What's that? Mr. Knight-In-Shining-Armor can't fight the monster alone? And here I thought you were going to jump in and save some poor defenseless girls with your amazing chivalry!" Moon mocked. From the looks of things, the three of them had no intention of helping the guy in the tux, much to his annoyance.

"Sailor Moon!" a voice cried out, causing the three senshi to turn around and spot a small black cat heading their way.

"Eh, Luna?" Moon muttered, not expecting to see the cat. Her gaze immediately traveled up, spotting another person she had not expected to see. "Ack, Ryu!" She exclaimed.

"Great, him again." Mercury added.

Ryu, who was a bit surprised when the cat suddenly sprinted past him and started talking, raised an eyebrow at this reaction.

"Do I know you?" Ryu asked, looking at Moon curiously. She sure didn't _look_ familiar...

"No, of course not! Whatever gave you that idea? Move along, citizen, nothing to see here!" Moon sudden nervously, trying to shoo Ryu away.

"What's going on here?" Luna asked. She briefly noticed a weird guy in a tuxedo and a mask fighting a weird guy in full samurai armor wielding two swords nearby. At first, she wasn't quite sure which one of them was the youma.

"Some guy pulled a crystal out of Kuno and Nabiki, then they turned into monsters." Moon answered, showing the moon cat the red Rainbow Crystal she had taken from Zoisite.

"Ah! That's a Rainbow Crystal!" Luna exclaimed. In the background, one could see the Masked Tuxedo man fighting a losing battle against the armored Youma. However, the only person who seemed to be paying any attention to the fight was Ryu, as the three senshi were too busy talking to Luna.

"What the hell is a Rainbow Crystal?" Mercury asked, right around the time the man in the tux got disarmed.

"I have you now!" Suupa Bureedo exclaimed. No one cared.

"I don't have time to explain!" Luna shouted, doing a back flip and generating an unusual object in the air. It was a pink rod with a large crescent moon attached to the end of it. It also had a series of small gems in the handle, just below the crescent moon. "Sailor Moon, take this and use it on the youma!"

"What is it, anyhow? A Moon Stick?" Moon muttered, picking the object up and looking at it. "It looks stupid." Behind her, the man in the tuxedo flew by and collided with a light post, causing it to bend out of shape. Suupa Bureedo pressed his advantage and attacked, cutting the post in half as the man in the tuxedo dodged.

"It's the Crescent Moon Wand!" Luna insisted.

"Hey, aren't you three monster hunters or something?" Ryu asked, looking rather confused. "Shouldn't you be helping that guy in the suit?"

"Nah, he can handle himself." Mars replied, just as the man in the tuxedo got nailed head on by one of Suupa Bureedo's magic attacks. Ryu sweat dropped upon hearing her response. That guy sure didn't look like he could handle himself. It looked like he was getting his ass kicked.

"I think I'll just call it Moon Stick." Moon replied after a bit of thought. Luna growled slightly, but decided to go on.

"You can use it to turn the Youma back to normal. Just say 'Moon Healing Escalation!'" Luna insisted. Moon just shrugged, figuring it was worth a shot.

"Bastard!" The masked man called out, spinning around and nailing Bureedo in the torso with a vicious roundhouse kick that would have crushed the ribcage of a lesser man. Unfortunately for him, all it did was made a loud 'clang' noise upon contact with his armor. This guy seemed completely incapable of feeling pain.

"It's no use!" Bureedo gloated, attacking once again.

"Moon Healing Escalation!" Moon cried out, stopping Bureedo in his tracks as he turned around to see what she was shouting about. Moon was holding the wand above her head as a golden mist seemed to pour out of it and cover the area. Along with this mist, an odd melody seemed to play, though its source didn't sound to be the wand itself. Rather, the song seemed to come from everywhere at once.

"Refresh!" An odd voice suddenly shouted from nearby. Turning towards it, Ranma spotted the other youma standing up with its arms raised skyward, its body glowing a bright white. The light vanished and Nabiki took the monster's place, quickly slumping to the floor.

Bureedo, on the other hand, seemed totally unaffected.

"Well, Nabiki is back to normal," Moon noted, "But Kuno didn't even blink. What gives?" She noticed that Bureedo seemed to have lost interest in his punching bag and instead was now approaching the four of them with both swords held at the ready.

"You have to weaken the youma first." Luna commented, briefly wondering what the three of them had been doing if this youma wasn't even harmed yet.

"What sorcery was that?" The youma demanded, drawing both his swords and holding them in front of his body. "You three she-devils are no match for me! Begone! Suupa Bureedo Asaruto!" The Youma started slashing in their direction rapidly, unleashing a crescent shaped magic blast each time.

"Shit." Moon muttered, preparing to move. She was rather surprised to see Mercury jump out in front of the incoming attack though, and thus didn't actually go anywhere.

"Bubble Spray!" The mist formed and the magic attacks dissipated into nothing, as if they were never there in the first place.

"What the...His attack disappeared." Mars muttered.

"So it's not totally useless." Moon added.

"Would you quit mocking my magic attack already?" Mercury asked, angrily.

"What? It's so easy to mock..." Moon replied. Ryu just glanced around in confusion, wondering where the voices were coming from, since he could no longer see an inch in front of his face. The man in the tuxedo was happy for the distraction, taking this moment to locate his discarded sword. Bureedo just glanced around, having no idea what was going on.

"Where hides you? Come out and show yourself!" The youma demanded. As if answering his call, a trio of blurs suddenly appeared before him. The three senshi were moving in unison, all lashing forward with a punch aimed for Bureedo's chest. Their punches struck and put a significant dent into Bureedo's armor while simultaneously hurling the youma back several meters.

"That didn't hurt!" Bureedo insisted, getting back to his feet. He still couldn't see anything through the mist, thus he completely failed to see the triple jump kick to the face coming. He was once again sent flying, a large crack now marring the face mask of his helmet.

"Foul women! You'll pay for that. Suupa Bureedo Randamu Asaruto!" Bureedo starting spinning around and began to fire his magic attacks in every given direction, clearly no longer caring if he actually hit anything or not. Mercury's mist was blown away by the deluge of power, forcing the three senshi to split up and take evasive action.

"Shit! I can't get close to him!" Moon muttered, leaping back and forth to avoid several blasts. "Moon Tiara Action!" The redheaded senshi tossed her tiara into the fray, hoping to get a hit in on Bureedo, even though that spell had been fairly ineffective thus far. It didn't even manage to reach him though, instead getting nailed by one of the blasts and being blown off course.

"Fire Soul!" Mars' fire didn't fair much better, barely getting a few feet before the attacks tore it apart.

"Bubble..." Mercury began, leaping to the side to avoid one of the stray blasts. Suddenly, and inexplicably, Bureedo stopped launching his attacks at random. In an instant, before Mercury could even finish the words to her attack, He concentrated the entirety of his assault on the blue haired senshi. She didn't have time to get out of the way, getting nailed head on by the blasts. Ryoga hit the wall and coughed up some blood before slumping to the ground. Luckily for her, the fuku had prevented those attacks from tearing her limb from limb. It was still too much for her to take though, as the transformation became overpowered and the fuku vanished in an instant.

"Ha ha! I have defeated the foul sorceress and her despicable mist! Now that she be vanquished, victory shall soon be mine! I am Unbeatable! I am the Unstoppable champion of the sword! I am-"

"Don't Move!"

"-What?" It was the only thing Bureedo managed to say before Ryu hit him. Ryu had rushed at the youma the second he saw what had happened to Sailor Mercury. When the transformation dropped, he had immediately recognized the girl he had saved several days prior. And to see the cute blue haired girl slumped over in the corner practically unconscious caused his blood to boil.

As he got closer, Ryu suddenly realized he had unconsciously fallen back into the Yamasenken and cursed himself. He reached Bureedo and changed tactics, lashing out with a two fisted punch aimed for the dent in the front of his armor. The dent deepened and the youma staggered back, but it was clear that the punch barely fazed him.

"Knave. You dare strike me?" Bureedo growled, lashing out with his swords at Ryu. Damn it, if only he hadn't sealed the Yamasenken. He could have taken the youma out in one hit. Ryu dodged the slashes and snaked in for another attack, jumping into a spinning kick that took the youma in the side of the head.

"You cur!" Bureedo shouted, regaining his footing. "Suupa Bureedo Sutoraiku!" Ryu was far too close to the youma to properly dodge the attack, forced to take it head on. He leapt back as the crescent shaped blade of magic nailed him dead center, hoping the backward momentum would help lessen the impact. Ryu hit the ground hard and rolled back to his feet, his shirt falling open after being cleanly split and his bandana fluttering to the ground without resistance. He now had a clean, though shallow, cut running up his entire torso, as well as a second cut in the middle of his forehead.

"That mark!" Luna suddenly exclaimed. On Ryu's head, marred slightly by the blood trickling out of his open wound, was a glowing green symbol that resembled a 4. "He's a Senshi!"

"You have got to be kidding me..." Moon muttered, smacking herself in the forehead just as Luna manifested another transformation pen.

"Take this and say 'Jupiter Power Make up.' Quickly!" Luna exclaimed, dropping the pen near Ryu's feet. Ryu picked the pen up and looked at it for a few seconds before stashing it in his pocket.

"I can beat this thing on my own!" Ryu shouted, rushing towards Bureedo again.

"You are truly a fool. I, the great and powerful Suupa Bureedo will never be slain by a pathetic mortal like you!" Bureedo called out, getting nailed in the torso by a jumping kick that hurled him back several feet. "That tickled! Suupa Bureedo Asaruto!"

"Moon Tiara Action!" "Fire Soul!" The two attacks hit Bureedo from either side. The tiara ricocheted off his sword, stopping him from performing his attack, while the flames did practically nothing.

"Clearly this is not working, Sailor Moon." the masked man in the tuxedo said, walking up behind the redheaded senshi. Ryu took the opening Moon and Mars gave him to rush back towards Bureedo and kick him in the face, though this had just as much effect as every other attack so far.

'Damn it, tux boy is right. We need to try something new.' Moon thought, watching Ryu trying and failing to do anything worth a damn to the armored bastard. 'Maybe if Ryu would transform, he'd have a spell that'd actually work. It's worth a shot.'

"Hey Ryu! Just use the stupid pen already!" Moon shouted, distracting Ryu long enough for Bureedo to send him flying back with another attack. He just glared at moon in response before rushing back towards Bureedo. Mars, who had noticed by now that her attacks were totally useless, had already helped Ryoga back to her feet and was currently walking with the untransformed senshi back to where moon and Tux were standing.

"What's going on?" Ryoga asked. She was still sore from the past week of getting her ass handed to her by youma, so having it happen again was starting to get on her nerves. She needed a vacation. A real vacation. Maybe when she got back home, she'd just leave the mercury computer on her desk and go wandering through a forest somewhere. At least then she wouldn't run into any youma.

"Turns out Ryu is another senshi, but he won't transform." Moon replied. Ryoga nodded. Honestly, she couldn't blame him for that decision. If that stupid cat hadn't tricked her, Ryoga never would have gone through with the transformation either.

"This new senshi seems to be our best chance. None of us have been able to hurt that monster at all. Not even me." Tux said with crossed arms.

"I think we need to trick him into transforming." Mars muttered, watching as Ryu got hit by another flurry of sword slashes. If his clothing got any more cut up than it already was, it'd soon be indecent.

"Hey Moon, does Ryu have a Jusenkyo curse?" Ryoga suddenly asked, watching Ryu rush forward and nail Bureedo in the face with a right hook.

"Uh...no, don't think so." Moon replied.

"Hey Ryu!" Ryoga shouted. Ryu turned his head to look at the blue haired girl. Luckily for him, that last hit knocked Bureedo far enough away that the distraction wasn't about to cost him a hit. "If you use the pen, I'll go out with you!"

For a few moments, there was silence. Moon, Mars and even the man in the tux looked at Ryoga as if she had lost her mind. Bureedo stood with his swords ready, but did not attack, as he too seemed to be confused for some reason. Ryu was just standing there like a deer caught in headlights. For all of 5 seconds, anyhow.

"Jupiter Power, Make up!" Ryu shouted, pulling the pen out of his pocket. The symbol at the end of the pen began to glow and rotate as Ryu rose into the sky. His body suddenly became bathed in a rainbow light while electricity started shooting out of the pen tip like miniature bolts of lightning. A good portion of the lightning collected around Ryu's body in a series of electric rings that orbited him like the electrons of an atom, however the rest of it flowed across Ryu's body itself. As the lightning danced across his body, he began to change. His body slimmed and shrank, though he became no shorter. In an instant his once male form was replaced by a body that was distinctly female, from head to toe, hips to breast, and everything in between. Shortly after, the 4 or 5 rings of electricity collapsed in on Ryu's body, exploding into a brilliant light. As the light cleared, Sailor Jupiter remained, wearing a green themed outfit with pink bows.

"What the **_HELL!_**" Jupiter screamed, looking down at her outfit in horror. "I did not agree to this!" Jupiter was outraged. If she had known that pen was going to turn her into one of them, she'd have force fed it right back to that creepy talking cat! Well, at least she was getting a date with the hot blue haired chick out of this... With this thought in mind, Jupiter turned her attention on Bureedo, who seemed far too confused to do anything but stare at her dumbly.

"I'm really annoyed right now, pal. And you seem as good a target as any." Jupiter muttered, cracking her knuckles with a frown on her face. That seemed to snap Bureedo out of his stupor, just as Jupiter crossed her arms in front of her face and concentrated on the words that were flowing into her mind.

"You foul enchantress! I will not be swayed by your bizarre magics! I attack!" Bureedo bellowed, rushing forward with both his swords ready.

"Supreme..." Jupiter began, an antenna popping out of her tiara which started to spark from electricity. "...THUNDER!" A bolt of lightning leapt from Jupiter's fingertips and struck Bureedo with an impressive flash. A tortured scream of pain echoed off the nearby buildings as the electricity flowed through the mostly metal youma's body, causing him to light up like a Christmas tree under the assault. After a few seconds of this, Jupiter stopped, leaving the charred and smoking body of Bureedo swaying on his feet.

"Ouch." The youma muttered, hitting the ground with a thump. Beyond the occasional twitch, it didn't seem like he was going to be moving anymore.

"Damn. That worked surprisingly well..." Moon muttered. Then she remembered that the metal bastard who had given them so much trouble was actually Kuno and pulled out the Moon Stick with a great deal of hesitation.

'This is Kuno, after all. Should I even bother?' She thought, looking at the wand in her hands. 'Then again, he was actually less annoying as a human. I'd hate to have to deal with this metal bastard again.' Moon nodded to herself upon reaching her decision, holding her wand out towards the fallen Youma. "Moon Healing Escalation!"

"REFRESH!" Kuno stood tall for a few moments before slumping to his knees, shaking his head in obvious confusion.

"Where am I?" Kuno muttered, getting back to his feet. His vision was swimming a bit, but it didn't take very long for it to clear. That was when he noticed the girls standing around in miniskirts.

"Eh? The Sailor Senshi? What are you doing here?" Kuno asked, glancing at the 4 girls curiously. Wait a minute, 4? Weren't there only 3 of them? "And where's the bozo with the blonde hair? I still need to kick his ass."

"Isn't he acting a little odd?" Mars asked, leaning towards Moon to ask the question.

"Yeah. That's not like Kuno at all." Moon replied. After seeing that his blonde opponent was no where to be found, Kuno turned back to the senshi and bowed deeply to them.

"It was nice to meet you, but I've got to run. I'll never forgive myself if I don't beat the ever living crap out of that blonde guy, so I need to go find him." Kuno said, standing back up straight and heading down the street. "See ya!" He shouted over his shoulder.

"You broke him." Ryoga suddenly blurted out.

"I didn't break him." Moon replied, trying to defend herself.

"You broke his brain." Ryoga said again.

"I consider this an improvement. If anything, I fixed what was already broken." Moon shot back. Oddly, Ryoga had no response to that. Jupiter walked over to the four of them, looking just as annoyed as she did when she pumped enough juice into Kuno to power the entire city.

"You owe me a date." Jupiter said, pointing accusingly at Ryoga. "And you, how do I change back into a guy?" This question Jupiter directed at Moon, who suddenly looked very nervous.

"Well, I can see I'm no longer needed here." Tux suddenly blurted out. Before anyone could respond, he leapt straight up and onto a nearby building, disappearing into the distance as fast as his legs would take him.

"I think I hear my mother calling me." Mars suddenly said, running off just as suddenly as Tux did. The fact that Konatsu's mother was dead did not escape Moon's notice, as she promptly glared at the retreating girl.

"You know, I was supposed to be back home hours ago. I'll have to take a rain check on that date." Ryoga muttered, dashing off as well. Moon made a grab for the back of the girl's shirt, but missed, forced to watch her race off and quickly get lost.

"I don't have all day. The sooner I get out of this outfit, the better. How do I change back?" Jupiter asked again, narrowing her eyes slightly at Moon. Moon chuckled nervously, glancing towards Luna for assistance only to see that even the squirrel was running for the hills.

'Damn them. I'll get them for this...' Moon thought, vowing vengeance on the others for abandoning her like this. "Well, you see...It's kinda like this..." Moon began, backing up a few steps as she started to explain.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Kasumi was humming a little tune to herself as she began to take the laundry off the clothesline to bring it inside. She had just heard on the news that a storm was coming their way, and it was better to be safe than sorry and get the clothes inside before the rain hit.

"_**WHAT?"**_

Kasumi flinched a little as she heard the remarkably loud voice, turning her head in the direction of downtown.

"Oh my, I wonder what that was." She muttered to herself. She could hear the sound of car alarms going off in the distance, clearly set off by the unusual noise. Without a second thought, she went back to attending to the laundry, briefly wondering when Ranma and Nabiki were going to be back. She was going to have to start dinner soon, after all. She'd hate for them to miss supper.

* * *

To be Continued.

Current Cross Count: 7

Author's Notes:

I changed the Summary, as you probably noticed, since it didn't seem necessary to hide the real plot anymore. Hopefully now it's a bit more descriptive than it was before.

Also, I kinda messed up. A lot of the stuff I wanted to do in this chapter didn't happen, and I really didn't feel like making another 20,000 word chapter. Instead, I'm just splitting this into a two parter.

Next time: Ryu disappears after realizing the true tragedy of the transformation. While Luna makes Konatsu and Ryoga hunt the unwilling senshi down, Ranma turns his attention to getting Shampoo to talk to him again. Unfortunately, Zoisite interrupts. Can Ranma beat another of the Seven Youma solo, or will the others arrive in time to back him up? Find out in the next chapter of Bishonen Senshi Sailor Moon: Thunder Storm part 2.

Ryo-Wolf


	8. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma, though I'd figure that that's a given. I also don't own Sailor moon, though if you thought I did you have mental problems. As for the many other series I've crossed with, I don't own those either.

* * *

4:32 AM. A pair of eyes open as a body cloaked in darkness slowly rises and stretches to overcome the haze of recent sleep. The sun had not yet risen, yet already this figure felt it was time to rise and seize the day.

Konatsu was careful as she got up and stealthily got out of bed. She could only imagine how badly Ryoga would react if he caught her sleeping in his bed. She was still too afraid to return to the Ucchan's, and thus had been spending most of her time at Ryoga's house. She had also gotten used to sleeping in his nice, comfy bed while he was off lost for a week. However, he had just come back from where ever he had been, and so Konatsu was forced to sleep on the couch.

Of course, Ryoga's couch was horribly uncomfortable. So she just waited until he fell asleep and snuck into his bed. Ryoga was thankfully a pretty heavy sleeper. However, being a ninja certainly helped during the whole sneaking process. She just had to make sure she got up before Ryoga did, or his head might have exploded when he found her.

'Better get back to the couch.' Konatsu thought to herself, silently leaving the room and descending the stairs.

-x-

5:00 AM. Shampoo awoke with a sudden alertness gained from years of habit and practice, leaping from her bed in an instant as a powerful blow descended upon her former position. She sailed across the room before her feet met her wall, bouncing off in a leaping kick towards her attacker.

"Well done, Shampoo. Your Great grandmother has taught you well." Her father praised, deflecting Shampoo's kick and lunging at her with a knife hand.

"Let's see how long you can go before I hit you." Shampoo groaned as she was forced on the defensive, jumping back from a few jabs to grab her sword off the wall. Her father snaked his hand out towards Shampoo, but she was prepared for it, deflecting the attack with the flat of her blade and lunging forward in a counter attack.

"What is the meaning of this, Father?" Shampoo asked, lashing out in a fast slash that seemed to ricochet off her father's raised forearm, despite the seeming impossibility of it.

"Come now, Shampoo. Elder Cologne has been doing this to you for years. I'm merely acting as her replacement while she's away. One would think you'd have gotten used to it by now." Her father replied with a grin, lashing out with two knife hands and forcing Shampoo backwards into the hallway.

-x-

6:00 AM. Amawa Hibiki awoke to the sound of an alarm clock and struck out wildly in a vain attempt to disable the device. He briefly wondered what madness had possessed him to wake up so early before remembering the importance of that day. Today was the first day he got to teach classes. The principal had given him a week to get accustomed to the school and make a lesson plan, which he had already done. Now was the time where he could actually begin to work.

"Ah, my first day at a new school, and the first step towards a new paycheck. Then maybe I can get Kurage back from Ba-san." With that thought in mind, Amawa got out of bed to get ready. All he needed now was a nice hot shower, a change of clothes and a jog down towards the school.

That was the plan anyway, until an odd noise from the window caused Amawa to open the curtains to see what it was. The color drained from his face as he saw that it was raining. So much for a jog. It would be more like a slow stroll with an umbrella to prevent him from transforming.

It would be another thirty minutes before Amawa realized that the only umbrella owned by the Hibiki family was Ryoga's, and that he had lost it over two weeks ago.

-x-

6:30 AM. Kasumi Tendo awoke and slowly sat up in bed, instinctively stretching the kinks out of her joints. She sighed contentedly and looked out her window at the cloud filled sky with a smile on her face. It wasn't exactly a cheerful sunrise, but there was something about a morning rain that Kasumi found pleasant.

"Oh my, so late already!" Kasumi exclaimed, seeing the time on her clock. She was usually awake by now. She must have been really tired last night.

"I'd better get dressed and start breakfast. Then there's the laundry, and the dojo needs to be cleaned out again, and it's been awhile since I mopped the kitchen floor. So much to do!" Kasumi got up and made her bed with practiced ease before crossing the room to pick out her clothes for the day. She should probably draw the bath for the day before starting on breakfast. Her sisters would appreciate that.

-x-

7:09 AM. A simple alarm clock sat in wait upon a simple nightstand, eagerly awaiting the moment it could perform its simple task. The life of an alarm clock was hardly a glamorous one, with only a single job to perform at a specific time every day, and usually for only a few moments. But this alarm clock enjoyed its job. When it's time came, it blared its alarm with a vigorous intensity, loudly and proudly sounding off to signal the beginning of whatever its owner needed to be reminded of. Today would be no different. In a mere few moments, it would be that time, and it would be able to perform its duty with joy.

7:10 AM. A buzzing sound on par with an air raid siren blasted through the room so suddenly that Nabiki practically leapt from her skin as she awoke. The alarm clock was happy to see that its owner was awake; clearly appreciating the work it did to remind her to start the day. Next she would reach over, switch it off, and it could wait for the next time it needed to wake her.

Today was different, though. For no foreseeable reason, the alarm clock suddenly floated a few inches off the nightstand that was its home and rocketed at impossibly high speeds towards the opposite wall, where it exploded spectacularly into its base components. The alarm clock was snuffed out, its existence over, silence once again descending onto the room.

"Ugh. I don't know why I ever bought such an annoyingly loud alarm clock." Nabiki grumbled. It did what it was supposed to do though, as she was now very awake. With a loud yawn and an exaggerated stretch, Nabiki crawled out of bed and strode across her room. As she approached the door, her bath items floated from their position in her closet into her hands and her uniform followed suit, folding itself up and landing in the bend of her arm just as Nabiki opened the door.

"Good Morning, Nabiki. Getting an early start today?" Kasumi asked cheerfully, currently in the process of sweeping the hallway. Nabiki nodded to her sister and tip toed around her, trying not to disturb what she had already cleaned.

"Morning Kasumi. I've just got some business to attend to early today. Is the furo ready?" Seeing her sister nod, Nabiki headed downstairs towards the bathroom, eager to get a nice soak. The door opened a few seconds before Nabiki even got to it and closed shortly after she entered. As her clothing seemed to remove itself from her body, Nabiki briefly wondered how the hell she ever got by without telekinetic powers.

"I am _so_ going to enjoy this." Nabiki muttered to herself. It took all her will power not to cackle maniacally as she soaped herself without even touching the bar.

-x-

X:XX XM. Kunzite had no need to know what time it was. As a Dark General, he technically didn't need sleep. Thus, he didn't. And since one could not see the sun or the moon while in the underground hideout of the Dark Kingdom, the passage of one day into the next was a concept he didn't bother himself with.

"The White Crystal; Nephrite's trump card. It has taken me much research, but I have finally discovered its secrets." Kunzite muttered to himself, gazing at the crystal in his hands with an evil gleam in his eye.

"White Crystal, show me a being powerful enough to defeat Sailor Moon!" The crystal began to shine as a figure appeared within its prismatic surface. Information about the figure also began to flow from the crystal into Kunzite's mind, causing his grin to get even wider.

"So this is the one. If I can steal the energy of this human, I will be able to create a youma powerful enough to finally get rid of the Sailor Senshi. Or better yet, if I could pollute his mind, I could simply let him do all the work for me." Kunzite chuckled to himself, his evil plans beginning to form in his head.

"You will be a great asset to the dark kingdom, Herb."

* * *

Bishonen Senshi Sailor Moon

Chapter 7

Thunder Storm part 2

* * *

She stood stoically in the center of the room, looking down at her feet but not truly seeing anything at all. Her eyes were unfocused, as she was lost in thought. She stood where she was, totally unmoving, wearing nothing but a headband and an oversized tank top, though there were clothes strewn throughout the room. It looked like a miniature hurricane had decided to manifest itself within the walls of the hotel room, destroying all within. The bed was in two pieces and on two separate halves of the room. The nightstand, which had formerly been firmly bolted to the wall beside the bed, had been reduced to little more than a pile of splinters and kindling. Half of a coffee table could be seen hanging from the ceiling, the other half presumably sticking out of the floor in the room above her. The walls were cracked, the carpet was shredded, and the doors were nowhere to be found.

The only sound came from the steady beat of rain against the outside walls and windows, with an eerie silence resting everywhere else. The TV had formerly been competing with the rain for noise, before she kicked it through the wall. If she bothered to look up, she'd be able to see it halfway embedded in a dresser in the room adjacent to her own; a small foot print forever imprinted onto its screen. The residents in the rooms throughout the hotel barely moved, barely made a sound. Not a one of them dared complain to the girl since she hurled the remains of her dresser into the hotel manager when he had come to yell at her. Paramedics were in the process of loading the man into the back of an ambulance at the moment, while several armed SWAT members were debating whether or not it was worth going in to get her. She was being fairly quiet now, after all.

None of her clothes fit. It was a weird thing to go on a violent rampage over, but that was the reason. She had been taking the whole thing rather well up until that point. Sailor Moon had told her how to change out of her fuku, but wouldn't say anything about turning back into a man. When she had finally managed to get the redhead to spill her guts on the topic, she was understandably upset. She had started yelling at the shorter girl, but that was about it. She just walked off at that point and headed back to her hotel room. The Youma had destroyed her clothing, so she had been tying off the shreds of it that remained in a way that was at least moderately decent.

She must have been in shock, she now realized. It hadn't fully hit her until she got back and tried to change, and none of her clothes fit. She put on a tank top that used to hug her muscles so tightly only to see it drape loosely off her ample bust. Her boxers and pants would simply slide right off, as her waist was far too thin to support them. Her boxers had at least hung off her hips, but it only took a few steps before they too slipped to the floor. At that point, it had all just hit her so suddenly. The full extent of what had happened finally came crashing down on her, and she finally understood it. It was at that point that she kicked her TV into the next room, and everything went downhill from there.

Ryu sighed to herself and lifted her head, catching a glimpse of her neighbor huddling in fear through a particularly large crack in the wall. She could hear the SWAT team slowly making their way up the stairs towards her room and turned around to face them. Typically, these guys would bust into a room at top speed to catch their target unawares and force the situation to stop through brute force. However, it was clear to Ryu that she had spooked these guys. They knew what she was, and understood that even heavily armed and armored as they were, she could probably kick the ever living crap out of every last one of them. That was why they slowly filtered into the room and surrounded her. They were too afraid to make a sudden move.

"You are under arrest for disturbing the peace, assault and battery and destruction of private property. Please come quietly. We don't want to hurt you, Ma'am." One of them said. Ryu snapped her head up and glared at the officer that had spoken, seeing him visibly jump from her look. His face shield was obscured by water droplets from the rain outside, but she could still see the fear in his eyes.

"Did you just call me 'Ma'am?'" Ryu asked, venom in her tone. She clenched her fists, causing the entire swat team to jump a little at the sound of her knuckles cracking.

She had just started to calm down and this idiot had to go and call her 'Ma'am.'

Looked like it was time to inflict some more pain.

* * *

Kasumi hummed to herself as she set breakfast at the table, nodding to her family members as they muttered their thanks before returning to the kitchen. The tea would be ready shortly, plus she could hardly sit down to eat herself while all her cooking utensils were dirty.

The phone rang, causing Kasumi to pause briefly and turn towards it, answering it as politely as always.

"Hello, Tendo Residence." Kasumi said into the receiver, pausing while she listened to the voice on the other end. "Oh, Auntie! How nice of you to call. How have you been doing?"

Nabiki flinched a little upon hearing Kasumi address the caller. Auntie? That could only mean one of two people. She glanced at her father, who was stoically reading the paper and occasionally taking bites of his breakfast. She then turned to Genma and noticed the man looked fairly nervous as he shoveled the rice into his mouth. Good, from the looks of them, it was most likely the lesser of the two evils.

"No, Auntie, It's morning here. You have to remember your time zones." Kasumi suddenly said. Nabiki flinched again. Genma had suddenly calmed considerably and Soun was now trying to eat his napkin, apparently not realizing that he had missed his bowl entirely.

"Is Kasumi talking to Aunt Ru-?"Akane began, but Nabiki clamped her hand over her mouth before she could finish.

"Don't say her name, stupid!" Nabiki chastised. What was Akane thinking? Hasn't she ever heard the saying, 'speak of the devil and he shall appear?'

"You have vacation time and want to visit? That's wonderful, Auntie! When do you think you'll arrive?" They all suddenly heard Kasumi say. Soun suddenly turned very pale while a shudder went through Nabiki's body.

"T..Too late..." She muttered, removing her hand from Akane's mouth. Kasumi finished her conversation and hung up the phone before walking back to the table, kettle in hand.

"Auntie called, Father. She says she's has some free time and wants to come visit us. Isn't that wonderful?" Kasumi said, apparently not noticing the sickened look on her father's face.

"Y...Yes...of course it is, Kasumi dear." Soun muttered unenthusiastically.

"Oh, is Ranma-kun still sleeping? He's going to miss breakfast." Kasumi pointed out, noticing a distinct lack of a certain pigtailed boy at the table.

"Ugh, he always oversleeps," Akane groaned, starting to stand, "I'll go wake him up." Before Akane could get up from the table, she was stopped by Nabiki, who placed her hand firmly on her little sister's shoulder.

"That won't be necessary, Akane. I'm sure he'll wake up on his own any second now." Nabiki said, looking like she was concentrating briefly when a very loud thud from upstairs caused the ceiling to shake.

"What the _HELL?_" Ranma screamed, apparently upset about something.

"See?" Nabiki said with a grin, going back to her food. Ranma stumbled down the stairs a few moments later, looking disheveled and incredibly confused.

"I think I just got attacked by a ghost." Ranma muttered as he took his position at the table, Luna taking position in his lap shortly after.

"A ghost? What are you talking about?" Akane asked.

"All I know is something picked me up and hurled me into the wall, and I sure didn't see nothin'." Ranma explained. Kasumi set some food in front of him and he gave her a look of appreciation before digging in.

"You must be imagining things." Nabiki muttered. A few seconds later Ranma mysteriously slammed his face into the table. He then immediately sat up and looked around the room suspiciously, as if searching for an unseen attacker.

"Ghosts." Ranma insisted. Nabiki just chuckled. A crash of thunder interrupted their breakfast as everyone turned to look outside, seeing that the rain was getting worse.

"Oh dear, It really is coming down now, isn't it?" Kasumi muttered, watching the rain increase in intensity. A bolt of lightning could easily be seen crossing the sky from her position, followed shortly by another roll of thunder.

"It says here that a storm is coming in." Soun said. Ranma could see the start of the article on the front page, 'Typhoon will most likely miss Tokyo says meteorologists.' it read.

"I'm going over to Ryoga's. See ya." Ranma suddenly said, moving to stand up from the table and tripping over nothing.

"We've got school!" Akane protested. Ranma obviously didn't care though. After another suspicious look around for the ghost that kept attacking him, Ranma headed towards the door with Luna following shortly behind.

"There's a Typhoon coming in. School's probably canceled." With that, Ranma opened the door and promptly left. A few moments later he could be heard crying out in surprise and once again damning all ghosts in the area, but he disappeared from hearing range shortly thereafter.

* * *

Konatsu smiled as she moved around the kitchen with a practiced ease gained from years of serving her sisters, not to mention her recent work in a restaurant. She had been staying in Ryoga's home for over a week now, and since she was fairly certain that neither Ryoga nor his uncle had any idea how to work a kitchen, she figured it was her duty as the only girl in the house to prepare a proper meal and earn her keep in the process.

"Umbrella...Umbrella...There's gotta be an umbrella somewhere in this house!" Amawa shouted, frantically digging through a nearby closet in a desperate search for some means of deflecting rain water.

"Hibiki-san, are you going to have breakfast before you leave today?" Konatsu asked, not really paying any attention to what Amawa was doing in favor of concentrating on her work.

"There's no time for that. I have to find an umbrella or a rain coat or _something_. I can't risk getting wet on my first day of work." Amawa explained, closing the closet in annoyance before turning to look at Konatsu for the first time.

"Who are you again?" Amawa suddenly realized he didn't really know who this girl was, despite seeing her around quite a bit since he moved in.

"I'm Konatsu." She replied, turning down the stove burner as she added a few more ingredients to the pan.

"Oh. Are you Ryoga's girlfriend or something?" Konatsu's hand slipped forward at the unexpected question, briefly touching the burner before she pulled her hand back with a yelp.

"No, no, nothing like that." She denied, sucking on her fingers for a moment to try and relieve the pain and watched Amawa run around like a chicken with its head cut off.

"I doubt an umbrella will be of much help." Konatsu said, pointing out the window. Amawa stood and looked, his jaw dropping open at what he saw. Lightning flashed in the clouds a few times as he gazed out at the torrent of water that was falling from the sky. The wind was even picking up, turning the downpour into a more horizontal hail of water.

"I'm screwed." Amawa muttered dejectedly. Thunder rolled across the sky as he said it, as if to emphasize his words. The door flew open just then, causing both Konatsu and Amawa to turn towards the opening. The rain was blowing in and soaking the entryway, as well as the large pile of crap that had tumbled to the floor after the door was opened. A very wet Ranma walked in shortly after and shut the door before shivering rather uncontrollably.

"H...h...h...hot...w...w...water..." She got out through chattering teeth. Konatsu just pointed Ranma towards the bathroom wordlessly, while Amawa just stood there wondering who the hell the girl was.

* * *

Ryu continued packing up her belongings, ignoring the groans of pain from the men lying around the room. Ryu had been expecting the SWAT team to start shooting shortly after she started moving; Hence, she had gone all out in order to incapacitate the whole lot of them as quickly as possible. However, not a single shot had been fired. She could only assume they were less willing to put a bullet into a teenaged girl than she had originally anticipated. She wasn't exactly complaining, though it did make her feel a little bad for breaking so many of their bones.

"C...Call an ambulance...Please!" One of the swat members cried out through his pain, cradling what was left of his arm. She had broken it in seven places at least, so it was sticking out at a bizarre angle that no limb was ever designed to be in.

'It's probably a good thing I can't use my Yamasenken. Otherwise, these guys would all be dead.' Ryu thought to herself, stuffing the last of her belongings into her pack and shouldering it quickly. Her clothing still didn't fit right, forcing her to improvise in order to clothe herself. She was actually wearing 2 shirts, one leaning to the left and the other to the right, and each was tied into a knot to eliminate the excess cloth. Her pants would not be staying on if it weren't for the belt she had tied as tightly around her waist as the belt itself would allow, which still caused it to hang on her hips and ass a little. Her boots had a pair of boxers and some socks stuffed into each toe before she had put her foot in. They were a bit loose, but they wouldn't come off mid-step at least. The only things she had that actually fit were her headband and weights, since they were pretty much a 'one size fits all' deal.

Ryu stood up and walked a few steps towards the door before turning towards the wall and smashing her hand into it. The Sheetrock cracked and the stud groaned, and Ryu distinctly heard her neighbor squeak in fear.

"Hey you!" Ryu addressed the man in the next room, "Call an ambulance for these guys." Ryu promptly left without bothering to get an answer. The rain was coming down with surprising strength and it seemed like her clothes and pack doubled their weight from the water they absorbed within a matter of seconds. She didn't really care though, she had a destination in mind.

"Ranma could change gender somehow. That bastard surely knows a way to make me male again." Ryu muttered to herself while slowly going from a stroll to a run. If she remembered correctly, his mother's house wasn't too far from here. Hopefully she knew where he was. Ryu was almost eager to get there, not only because she may very well be able to become a man again, but she could easily challenge Ranma to a rematch once she found him. With that thought in mind, Ryu picked up speed.

* * *

Ranma sighed contently as his body sank into the hot waters of the Hibiki's furo. It was a welcome change to the freezing cold rain outside, especially since a change in gender came with it. Atop his head, Luna laid out lazily as always, her back paws and tail dangling in front of Ranma's eyes.

"We really need to find Sailor Jupiter, Ranma. You shouldn't have let her run off." Luna said, swatting at Ranma's pigtail a few times.

"No thanks. Ryu and I have a history, and I get the feeling he's gonna want to tear my heart out with his bare hands if he sees me again." Ranma replied, pushing Luna's tail aside. It was surprisingly not bushy, considering she was a squirrel and all.

"I think you should take your duty as Sailor Moon more seriously, Ranma." Luna said simply, clawing at Ranma's pigtail again. Ranma flinched a little, feeling her claw dig into the back of his neck a little.

"And I think you need a bath. Get offa my head." Ranma jerked his head to the side as he said this, causing Luna to fall into the furo with a large splash.

"No! **cough cough. **Can't swim!" Luna was slashing around like mad, desperately trying to free herself from the dreaded water. Ranma would have none of it though as he began rubbing his hands through her fur roughly.

"Dirty squirrels need cleaning!" He responded, continuing his work at cleaning Luna.

"You suck!" Luna screamed, swallowing a little water in the process. Ranma stopped his assault of Luna when he heard the bathroom door open, and shortly afterward Ryoga walked in and jumped into the furo.

"What are you doing here?" Ryoga asked suspiciously, glaring at Ranma.

"Typhoon's coming. I figure school would be canceled. Plus there are some ghosts or something at the Dojo that keep attacking me." Ranma responded. Before Ryoga could reply to that, the bathroom door opened once again and in stepped Konatsu, who was quite nude as she, too, got into the furo.

"W...What the hell are you doing?" Ryoga shouted at Konatsu, who didn't seem to care at all that she was totally nude and sharing a bath with two equally undressed boys.

"Well, since you two were both in here, I figured we were having a meeting." Konatsu replied innocently. She honestly seemed confused that Ryoga would question why she was in the bathroom.

"You're a girl! You can't just barge into a bathroom with guys!" Ryoga insisted. He was also trying to avert his eyes from Konatsu's body. After all, water wasn't exactly very good at concealing a feminine form, considering it was translucent and all.

"I used to be a guy. It's not like either of you are going to try something." Konatsu reasoned. Ryoga didn't respond to that. There was nothing he could say that wouldn't be incriminating.

"Anyway," Luna interrupted. She had managed to find a foothold on the bottom of the furo. Even though she had to stand up straight on two legs, she at least wasn't going to drown, "Konatsu has a point. We should be having a meeting."

"About what?" Ranma asked, leaning back against the wall of the furo and staring at the ceiling.

"Sailor Jupiter, of course. We need to find her." Luna responded.

"Uh-uh, no way. Ryu can wander around and go about his business for all I care." Ranma shot back.

"Alright, then Ryoga and Konatsu can find her while you sit here acting like a child." Luna said back. Ranma turned his gaze towards the cat and glared at her.

"Hey, the guy tried to kill me. He also impersonated me to try and fool my mother into giving him a secret family scroll. _And_ he tried to kill me! If he knew _I_ was Sailor Moon, he'd probably try to kill me again." Ranma said.

"Well, did he know about your curse?" Konatsu asked. Ranma looked up at her in confusion, doing his best to stare directly into her eyes and not let them wander.

"Uh...Yeah. Why?" Ranma replied, looking confused.

"Well, he just turned into a girl. And if he knows you change into a girl, he'll probably track you down anyway. You're his best chance to find a way to change back." Konatsu pointed out, causing Ranma's face to fall a little.

"And if that's the case, he's probably going to go to your mom's home, if that's where he was before." Ryoga added, making Ranma's face fall further.

"...Regardless, I'm not going to go there to see him. Ryu's bad enough, but I'm not about to visit my mother either." Ranma said firmly, offering no objections.

"You don't want to see your mother? Why not?" Konatsu objected, honestly confused that someone wouldn't want to see their own mothers.

"She has also tried to kill me." Ranma replied with utmost seriousness. Konatsu blinked a few times at that, but didn't say anything further.

"Alright then, Ranma, you don't have to go. Ryoga, Konatsu, go to Ranma's house and see if Ryu is there. If not, we're going to have to search the city for her." Luna said, like a general giving commands to her soldiers. Despite the commanding tone of her voice, neither Ryoga nor Konatsu looked like they were about to fall in step.

"First of all, we don't know where Ranma's mother lives." Ryoga pointed out. "Secondly, there's a typhoon coming. Not exactly good search party weather."

"A little rain never hurt anyone." Luna said.

"There's a big difference between a little rain and a typhoon." Ryoga shot back.

"You three do whatever you want. I have my own business to take care of." Ranma said, crossing his arms.

"And what would that be?" Luna asked sarcastically, not believing Ranma had any business at all.

"Shampoo's still not talking to me. I figure she won't be able to run away from me in the middle of a Typhoon." He replied. Luna could only sigh in disgust. Ranma had such a one track mind, it was almost disturbing.

* * *

The windows began to shake and rattle in their frames as the wind and rain only continued to increase in intensity. Shampoo sighed a bit as she watched, eyes half lidded in obvious boredom and fatigue. The outside world was all but invisible to her, completely hidden behind sheets of water falling from the sky.

"We should close, Father. No one comes in this weather." Shampoo muttered as she turned towards the kitchen. Her father was still in there, cooking for reasons she could not understand. No one had come in for the breakfast rush, and with the way the weather was turning, that wasn't about to change.

"We'll be having guests soon, Shampoo. Have patience. They will surely want to eat when they arrive." Her father said, again, much like he did an hour before. It was starting to become a bit annoying, the way he insisted that someone would be coming by.

"How do you know?" She asked, though she already knew what he would say.

"Daddy always knows, dear." He replied. Shampoo almost wanted to throw a chair at him.

"Ah, here's one of them now. Open the door for him, Shampoo." Her father said, causing Shampoo to sit up and blink in surprise. She didn't hear anything. She also didn't see anything. The outside was still dreadfully wet and windy with no sign of changing. Despite this, she figured she might as well humor her father and opened the front door, ensuring she stayed behind it so that the rain coming in would not hit her. Surprisingly, the instant she opened the door, a figure ran inside. Shampoo was so surprised by this she immediately slammed the door afterwards.

"Ranma?" Shampoo asked, her confusion hitting her a few instances before her annoyance did. His persistence was one of the things she found attractive about her airen, but she had to admit it was infuriating when she wanted to spend some time away from the martial artist on occasion.

"Oh...Sh..Sh..Shampoo...Could...d I h...have a t...t...towel an' some hot w...water?" Ranma asked, her wet hair and clothes plastered so thoroughly to her body from the rain that they left absolutely nothing to the imagination. Shampoo could clearly see every curve and detail of Ranma's female body through the water laden cloth and immediately knew that any customers they may have had would have been leering at her.

"Here you are." Ranma turned and blinked in surprise, seeing the man she could only assume was Shampoo's father handing her a towel, a kettle of hot water, and a spare set of clothes. Ranma could only nod her head in thanks as she accepted the offered items and quickly went about using them.

"That was your father?" Ranma asked, figuring she might as well verify that fact before he said anything else. Shampoo nodded just as Ranma got done removing her wet clothes, now standing in the middle of the restaurant wearing nothing but a pair of soaked boxers before pouring the hot water over herself. Completely unconcerned with Shampoo's presence, Ranma toweled himself off before removing the soaked boxers and replacing them with the dry pair Shampoo's father had given him. It wasn't until he was mostly dressed again that he noticed Shampoo staring at him and blushing rather heavily.

"...Oops." He muttered, having a fairly good idea what she was blushing about. He tried not to smirk about it, but nothing stopped his ego from shooting through the roof from her reaction.

"What you doing here, Ranma?" Shampoo muttered in broken Japanese, turning her head away and trying to regain her composure. It wasn't anything she hadn't seen before, as she had snuck into the bath with a nude Ranma a few times. She just hadn't been expecting him to strip right in front of her. Plus he was usually running away and hiding himself in those situations. This was the first time she had gotten such a clear look at his...nakedness.

"What am I doing here? You've been avoiding me and you won't tell me why. What do you think I'm doing here?" Ranma responded, half expecting the kick to the face but still failed to dodge it. He stumbled backwards and landed in a chair, the instant he hit the seat, he found a bowl of his favorite Ramen and a pair of chopsticks placed in his hands by Shampoo's father. He looked at the man in confusion, but he simply smiled from behind his sunglasses and disappeared into the kitchen again.

'That was strange.' Ranma and Shampoo thought simultaneously. Shampoo even had to stop mid step, since she had been fully intending to kick Ranma again. Instead, she stopped where she was and simply pulled open the front of her shirt before sliding the right sleeve down her arm to reveal the large bandage she had on her right shoulder and abdomen.

"Why you think I avoiding you? You turn into coward and a tree land on Shampoo! I'm angry at you!" Shampoo insisted, glaring at Ranma.

"Hey, I have an explanation for that," Ranma began, setting the Ramen aside in favor of continuing this discussion. However, something struck him as he stood up, and he turned a suspicious look on the girl in front of him.

"...Wait, what'd you say?" Ranma asked, watching as Shampoo's face twisted slightly in confusion. "What hit you?"

"Are you stupid? I say a tree hit me." Shampoo answered, though she didn't seem as adamant as she did a moment ago.

"A few days ago you said a ferris wheel landed on you." Ranma said, watching Shampoo only get more confused.

"No, It was a tree. I say tree, it tree." Shampoo responded. Despite herself, she didn't seem as sure as she did before. "I...don't remember. It blurry."

"What do you mean its 'blurry?' There's a big difference between a Ferris Wheel and a tree, Shampoo. How could you confuse them?" Ranma insisted. He wasn't even sure what he was insinuating about Shampoo's inconsistency, but something wasn't right about this situation.

"I not remember what happened at the carnival. I blacked out." Shampoo answered honestly. Ranma still looked at her strangely, but he didn't know what else to say about it. The point became moot though, as the sound of a scream of pain coming from the kitchen interrupted his train of thought.

* * *

A brief sigh escaped his lips as he just finished preparing the meal for the guest he knew would be appearing any moment now. He could already hear the footsteps that he knew would be there just as he poured the meal out into a bowl and grabbed a pair of chopsticks.

"Here," He said, turning around suddenly and presenting the surprised, effeminate man behind him with the bowl, "Have some ramen."

"What? What is this?" Zoisite muttered in surprise, taking the ramen but eying it in confusion.

"Ramen, my special recipe." He responded, even though he knew that was not the question the general asked. "I've been expecting you, Zoisite, so I prepared this in advance."

Zoisite glared at the man before him with undisguised suspicion. His mind simply could not grasp an explanation for this unusual behavior and the man's knowledge of his name, so he couldn't only assume foul play.

"Who are you? How do you know that name?" Zoisite demanded before tossing the bowl of ramen towards the nearby sink, believing it to be poisoned or worse. The man before him merely adjusted his dark glasses for a moment and smiled warmly, an act that only served to put the general further on edge.

"Ever since I was a boy, I have been graced with the ability of foresight. I could only see a few mere moments ahead, but it gave me an undeniable edge in my martial arts, and has always been a blessing to me." Shampoo's father began, turning away from Zoisite in the process. He began to clean up the area he had used as he told his tale, apparently unconcerned by the blonde man's presence.

"However, my ability has become much more powerful as of late, and I've started to see things many days before they happen. Because of that, I have learned of my true nature, of your existence, and of this meeting I also know of your intentions, and that I am powerless to stop what you are about to do." Saying that, he turned back around to face Zoisite, seeing that the man was smirking and holding up the black crystal that would soon steal the crystal within his own soul.

"Ah, that makes things easier. You seem oddly calm, though. Are you looking forward to becoming a Youma again?" Zoisite asked, curious about the man's demeanor. The last two he had encountered seemed to be anything but eager. It was a refreshing change to see things become easier.

"Not at all. In fact, I dread it." Shampoo's father responded, "However, I have seen how this day will end, and I have faith in my daughter and her husband."

Daughter? What was that supposed to mean? Zoisite wasn't sure what to think about that remark, but it sounded odd. Could that mean this man was the father of one of the Senshi? No, that couldn't be it. The Senshi were unlikely to be married. This old fool must assume that his family would actually be able to save him somehow.

"You are wise to accept the inevitable," Zoisite said with a smirk, allowing the glowing crystal to float out of his hand, "Zoi!"

The man began to scream out in pain as the waves of the crystal enveloped him, causing him to fall to his knees and clutch at his chest. Zoisite sighed at the display, sticking a finger of his spare hand into his ear in some vain attempt to dampen the sound of the screams of agony. The old fool had been so cooperative before, he could have at least had the decency not to scream. Red smoke began to rise from his body just as a yellow crystal flew from his chest into Zoisite's hand. Good, it looked like he'd get what he wanted and wouldn't have to worry about those meddlesome girls showing up.

Of course, just as he thought that, the door to the kitchen exploded inward and two teenagers rushed in. Luckily, they weren't dressed in mini skirts.

"Father!" Shampoo shouted, rushing to her father's side before glaring at Zoisite, "What you do to him?"

"You!" Ranma growled in annoyance, realizing too late that he wasn't supposed to recognize Zoisite. The man in question was ignoring Shampoo and looking at him with a raised eyebrow, which probably meant his slip hadn't gone unnoticed.

'Shit, what the hell am I supposed to do?' Ranma thought, glancing from Zoisite and the crystal in his hand to Shampoo's father and the red smoke he was producing. Ranma didn't need to be a genius to realize that Shampoo's dad was about to transform into some horrible monster, and there wasn't shit he could do about it with Shampoo around.

"Humph, I don't know how you know me, but it doesn't matter. I've got what I came for." Zoisite said before vanishing in a swirl of flower petals. Well, that was actually a good thing, it meant Ranma only had to deal with Shampoo's dad.

The red smoke was pouring out much faster now, and it wouldn't be long before it was too thick to see anything in the kitchen. And one thing was for certain, being blind when one of these stupid monsters were around wouldn't be a good thing.

"Come on, Shampoo! We need to get out of here!" Ranma said quickly, grabbing the girl by the arm and pulling her out of the kitchen as the smoke became thick enough to obscure her father from view.

"What you doing? Father is hurt." Shampoo protested, but Ranma wasn't about to let her get away from him as he ran back into the main room of the restaurant. Damn it, what was he supposed to do? Assuming whatever shampoo's dad became wasn't as annoying as Kuno was, Ranma should be able to give him a beat down just fine without transforming. However, there was no way Ranma could change him back without using that stupid moon stick, and there was no way in _hell_ he was going to use that thing without transforming first. He'd look ridiculous. Plus, Shampoo would see him, and that was something he didn't even want to begin to explain.

"In a few seconds, that's not gonna be your dad anymore. And whatever it becomes, we're probably gonna have to kick its ass." Ranma said, still holding the girl back as she struggled to rush back into the kitchen that had already become completely full of red smoke. However, her struggles quickly stopped as a figure exploded out from the room in question, causing Ranma and Shampoo to go in opposite directions to dodge the incoming blow.

"The hell?" Ranma muttered, looking rather surprised at what he saw. Shampoo's father had become some kind of crazy snake man. His body was now scaled and was a distinct brown color, and judging from the hood of skin around his head, he was a Cobra. More unsettling than the fact he was a snake headed man was the fact that each of his hands seemed to end in another snake's head. These had neither eyes nor hood, but nonetheless they were obviously mouths with their own fangs.

"F...Father?" Shampoo muttered, glancing up at the Youma in confusion. For his part, he did not move from his spot, only slowly rotating his head back and forth between Shampoo and Ranma. From what Ranma could tell, the youma was having difficulty deciding which one of them to attack.

"Shampoo, he's not your dad anymore. The only way we can change him back is to beat the ever living crap out of him. Do you think you can do that?" Ranma asked, only glancing towards Shampoo quickly before turning his attention back to the snake. So far, this one seemed fairly stupid compared to the other Youma he had fought. Despite that, it was setting off his danger senses like nothing else. His brain was practically screaming at him to run the hell away and not look back.

"Yes. Shampoo fight." She had hesitated at first in her response, but when she did speak her voice carried a sense of determination that caused Ranma to smirk. Shampoo was no slouch when it came to delivering a well deserved ass kicking. With her help, He was confident they could take whatever this snake had to offer.

"So, you intend to fight me, eh?" The snake said in an oddly human way. So much for being stupid, Ranma thought. Though it was kinda odd that it spoke so clearly. He could have sworn it would have hissed as it talked, at least.

"I am Serpise, one of the Seven Monsters. Flee while you can, I offer no mercy to prey that crosses me." The snake said, turning towards Ranma as he did so. Somehow, that look unnerved him. There was something about it that immediately put Ranma on edge. It was as if the youma was giving him a knowing look, the kind of look Nabiki would give him when she was about to reveal some secret he had been trying to keep.

"Tch, I ain't backing down, Snake-head. Gimme your best shot." Ranma gloated, his smirk coming back to his face as he readied himself for battle.

"As you wish." Serpise responded, before he moved so quickly that Ranma almost didn't see it. He avoided the incoming strike by a hair's width, but did nothing to stop the follow up kick that sent him sailing across the room to come crashing down on a table.

'Oh, right. Snakes strike incredibly fast, can't believe I forgot about that.' Ranma thought in annoyance, getting back to his feet just in time to see Shampoo go sailing past him. Ranma wasted no time rushing back towards the snake, lashing out with a fist towards the side of its head only to see it starting to duck almost the second he started to attack. Another blow struck him in the ribs, but he moved with it, rolling off the attack and striking towards the Youma's shoulder. It started to bend away from him even before he got into position, and was well out of range by the time he struck. Another kick caught him in the chest just as the snake ducked for apparently no reason. He realized the reason moments later as Shampoo sailed clean over the youma and smashed into him at full force, sending him flying into another table.

'What the hell? It wasn't even looking at her! How does it keep dodging like that?' Ranma thought, getting back to his feet and watching Shampoo fight the snake for a few moments. His suspicions were confirmed almost immediately as he watched the snake casually avoid every blow Shampoo attempted to land and returned with an attack in the same movement. It was reading Shampoo like a book. No, it went beyond that. It was like it knew what Shampoo was going to do before she even did it.

'Can this youma read minds or something?' Ranma thought, grabbing a chair silently and raising it above his head. The snake made no change, apparently not even noticing him as it continued to punish Shampoo relentlessly for every failed attack. Nodding to himself, Ranma hurled the chair as hard as he could, making as little noise as he was able, and watched the snake start to duck almost as the chair left his hand, easily and completely avoiding the projectile.

'It knew the chair was coming almost right after I threw it. This guy's reaction time is completely insane. The only way I'm gonna hit him is with something he can't dodge.' Ranma thought, trying to think of a technique that would work and came up wanting. The only thing he had that came close to undodgeable was the Hiryuu Shoten Ha, and there was no way in hell he'd complete a spiral against this youma, especially in such a confined area.

"I guess I just have to attack and look for an opening." Ranma rushed back into the fight, delivering a reverse hook kick that the snake started to dodge right after he lifted his leg. He turned it into an ax kick in mid air, but the snake once again began to dodge practically before his attack began and Ranma hit nothing but the floor. What added insult to injury was the fact it wasn't even looking at him, instead concentrating on Shampoo.

"Dodge this." Ranma grumbled, collecting his chi for a moment. At this range, and with Shampoo keeping it busy, there was no way in hell it'd be able to avoid a Mouko Takabisha.

"As you wish." Serpise said simply, breaking off from Shampoo and crossing the room before Ranma had finished charging the technique. The chi build up died before Ranma had even formed it into a sphere, causing him to look at the snake headed youma in extreme annoyance. The damn thing didn't even give him a chance to set it off.

"Now you're just cheating." Ranma grumbled under his breath as the snake youma seemed to cross its arms.

"I tire of this. I expected you to put up a decent challenge, but you are not even worth playing with. I shall end this quickly." Serpise muttered, taking on a snake stance. Ranma would have laughed at the irony, but somehow couldn't find the mirth.

Without a word, Shampoo dashed across the floor towards the Youma that was once her father, surprising Ranma enough that he didn't follow suit for a few moments. Serpise barely moved as the two approached, only flaring his hood out further and starting to hiss.

"Naja Hannah." Ranma spotted a slight glow emitting from the snake's throat as it spoke and immediately changed his trajectory, intent on curving in towards the youma's right side. However, Shampoo didn't seem to notice the obvious sign of a magical attack until it was too late. Serpise opened its mouth so wide it looked like he could swallow Shampoo whole, unleashing an intense blast of yellow green energy that almost seemed to be a cross between a fluid and electricity.

Shampoo never had a chance at dodging it.

"Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!" She cried out, taking the blast head on and being dragged across the restaurant by it. She and the blast hit the opposite wall and kept going, hurling Shampoo out into the storm beyond.

"SHAMPOO!" Ranma shouted, stopping before he even started his attack when he saw Shampoo get hit. He was halfway to the hole before he was blindsided by Serpise, intending to retrieve the girl but instead getting body checked into another table.

"Damn it, I'm going to make you regret that." Ranma growled, climbing to his knees before Serpise was upon him, intent to smash him into the foundations with a powerful jab. Ranma twisted to the side, getting close enough to the Youma in front of him that his nose nearly touched its scales before he absolutely let loose.

"AMAGURIKEN!" Ranma shouted, his voice almost inaudible compared to the crack akin to thunder his attack created. Serpise flew from the impact, hitting the roof and cracking a rafter before crashing down on top of a table. Ranma halfway stood, his arm still raised, breathing heavily. He had never put that much effort into an Amaguriken before, not even when he first used it against Ryoga. His arm was smoking, his knuckles were bleeding, and he was in enough pain to wonder whether or not he had broken the bones in his arm and hand. Not only that, but his shoulder was hurting like_ hell_. It was actually becoming difficult to keep his arm up like it was from how tired it felt. On the upside, he was fairly certain he broke the sound barrier with that attack, and if it weren't for the fact his opponent was a supernatural monster, Ranma was confident that assault would have killed it.

"How'd you like that, eh? Didn't dodge that one, didja? No, I don't think so." Ranma said through labored breathing, standing up straight and letting his right arm hang dead at his side. Serpise wasn't moving, which was a definite plus. However, crippling his arm probably hadn't been the best way to defeat this monster. He had completely forgotten how much it had hurt to let loose on Ryoga back when he first learned the Bakusai Tenketsu. There was a good reason he had slowed down the technique after that fight; he made a mental note to remember it this time.

After Serpise failed to move for several more moments, Ranma began to worry. He _really_ hoped he hadn't killed it. If Shampoo stopped talking to him and started attacking him on sight because of the carnival thing, she'd probably give him another Kiss Of Death for this one.

"You're not dead, are you?" Ranma asked, moving closer to the fallen Youma to see if it was breathing. All the other Youma turned to ash when they died, but he didn't know if the ones that used to be human would do the same. It was worth checking, anyway.

"F...foolish human." Serpise muttered, surprising Ranma. The youma struck out with a hand that immediately opened up and revealed a pair of glistening fangs, catching Ranma in the upper thigh before he could get away.

"Sh...shit..." Ranma muttered, his legs buckling under him as he felt something burn into his veins. His vision started to waver as he looked up at the slowly recovering youma, seeing with some satisfaction that it was bleeding heavily and its chest seemed to be caved in slightly. An instant later, Ranma's vision failed him completely, and he collapsed to the floor like a marionette with its strings cut.

* * *

His head was swimming, and his body felt like it was made of lead. What the hell had that snake hit him with? He would have thought he was dead if it didn't feel so much like being drunk. A snake the size of a man would surely have a potent enough poison to kill him immediately. Instead though, he felt heavy, sluggish, maybe even partially paralyzed. He could only assume the venom he had gotten a dose of was of the non lethal variety.

However, he was pretty sure he was hallucinating, if the apparent castle throne room around him was any indication. Whatever that venom was, it was doing a fantastic job of incapacitating him.

"My Prince, I have grave news from the north." Ranma heard a voice say from somewhere above him. He rolled his neck and barely responsive body, trying to turn towards the voice. There seemed to be an oddly dressed man kneeling before the throne in the room, and he had been the one to speak. Ranma's eyes moved up further, towards the man sitting in the throne. He was rather surprised to see it was...himself?

"Report." the other Ranma insisted from his position in the throne. Ranma did even know how to react to what he was seeing. It was one hell of a hallucination.

"The Red Witch is on the move. Several of our scouts have already fallen to her demon minions, and it seems she's coming this way." The herald said, raising his head to show the man before him his worry. "They're coming to attack the castle, my Prince. It is almost certain that they seek the 5 artifacts."

"I don't need you mixing your opinion with your report. Not even the Red Witch would be foolish enough to assume she could claim the Emotoas Artifacts. Regardless, we need to address her actions. Gather the 4 and tell them to meet me in my quarters." The Prince Ranma ordered. The herald nodded and quickly left, leaving Ranma with his princely double.

The world seemed to ripple slightly, causing Ranma to blink a few times from his position on the ground. As it did, the prince turned his gaze towards Ranma, seeming to notice him for the first time.

"How long do you intend to stay down? I never would have guessed you to be the type to give up so easily." He said, causing Ranma to blink in further confusion. That was when it clicked. He knew there was something odd about this prince.

"Wait, I recognize you. You're Ransuke. You're the me from my dreams." Ranma muttered, rolling over onto his chest and trying to push his body up. He failed "Am I dreaming?"

"You were dreaming, but this is something different." Ransuke replied, rising from his throne and crossing the room towards where Ranma lay.

"You're just a dream version of me. You aren't real. If this isn't a dream, how am I talking to you?" Ranma muttered, finally managing to get to a kneeling position. However, his legs still lacked the strength to allow him to stand. For a moment, he realized he was unintentionally kneeling before the prince, and had to resist the urge to grumble.

"In a way, you're right, but you also couldn't be more wrong. We are the same person. However, in another way, we are completely different. It is very complicated. Regardless, I am merely a ghost of the past. My spirit lives on in you, but it seems you have not yet realized your true potential." Ransuke explained, causing Ranma to only become more confused as he finally got back to his feet.

"What do you mean?" Ranma asked, curious. Ransuke just smirked and put a gauntlet covered hand on Ranma's shoulder.

"If you want my power, the power of us all, you simply need to remember the words." Ransuke said.

Remember...the words?

Ranma blinked, finding himself once again in the Nekohaten. Serpise was only a few feet away, slowly but surely making his way to the hole in the wall he knocked Shampoo through.

"How are you standing already?" Serpise demanded, turning around to glare at Ranma. For his part, Ranma simply looked down at his hand, not sure what had just happened. Remember the words...What words?

Unsure of what else to do, Ranma simply recited the first words that came to mind.

"Moon Prism Power, Make up!" As the transformation overtook him, he couldn't help but feel like he had guessed wrong. However, that thought immediately left her mind as her feet settled to the ground and the change took hold. She felt...surprisingly better. Whatever venom had been in her body seemed to have been expelled by transforming. Not only that, her arm was feeling much better, not being nearly as sore as it used to be.

'Damn girly transformation turning out to be useful. It's easier to ignore if there's no benefits.' Ranma thought bitterly to herself before bringing her attention back to the issue at hand. Ranma had been distracted and paid for it with a magical attack that hurled her through the back wall and out into the storm, only to be followed by Serpise. Oddly enough, it hadn't hurt that much. Damn it, did the outfit protect against magic too? Son of a bitch.

"Your inattention will cost you." Serpise said, charging in at the ready. Ranma could only smirk as she saw it though. He was moving noticeably slower, having obviously been weakened by that earlier Amaguriken.

"Shut it!" Ranma replied, evading to the side and delivering a punch as hard as she could into the snake's mid-section. It grunted, staggered slightly, but immediately struck again, missing Ranma narrowly as she ducked and once again let loose into Serpise's abdomen. The Snake backed up and away after taking the hit, trying to get some room between them, but Ranma wasn't about to let up. The wound she had given him earlier was an obvious weak point, and she had every intention of pummeling it the rest of the night if she had to.

"Kachuu Tenshin..." Ranma muttered, dashing in and ducking under a backfist and sidestepping the follow up punch, placing herself inside the snake's defense, "...Amaguriken!" This one was far slower than the last, well within Ranma's typical range, but the effect was nonetheless devastating to the snake youma. Serpise doubled over in pain, spitting up an odd green fluid in the process.

"I'm weakened. There's nothing I can do to stop your Healing. Return me and claim your victory, Sailor Moon." Serpise muttered in defeat, hanging his head as the rain continued to pelt the two of them intensely. Ranma had honestly not noticed the rain up until that point. She was absolutely soaking, but somehow she had been too focused to care.

"You ain't getting off that easy, after what you did to Shampoo." Ranma growled, cracking his knuckles. Thunder crashed ominously in the background as she did, the rain and wind steadily building up around them. "I'm not done kicking your ass yet."

"Your anger..." Serpise muttered, raising his head, "...will cost you." Ranma was suddenly, unexpectedly, body checked by the downed serpent. She hadn't even seen it move, but she was sent reeling backwards from the blow. Before she could fully recover she was taking a kick full in the abdomen and sailed through the rain to crash into a concrete wall behind her, only to have Serpise body check her again. The concrete cracked and spider-webbed, but Serpise wasn't done. With one arm, he nailed the fuku clad girl in the shoulder to pin her to the wall. The other arm opened, revealing a pair of fangs he had every intention of burying into Ranma's flesh.

He never got the chance, however, as a thin sword flew out from the storm and went straight through his hand, pinning it to the wall beside him.

"It seems you are in danger again, Sailor Moon." The Tuxedo clad man said with a grin that was hidden behind his mask, but still completely audible.

"Shut the hell up, Tux. I didn't need your help." Ranma growled, glaring at the man through the rain. Despite the torrent of water falling on them, it didn't seem that he was particularly effected by it. Was that tuxedo water proof or something?

"He appears to be effectively weakened. Why not use that spell of yours to return him to normal?" Tux said, to which Ranma simply growled before pulling out the Moon stick.

"Fine, Fine. But I still think he got off too easy." Ranma muttered, then sighed. She pulled the sword out of the Youma's hand first, letting it slump to the ground in the process, before raising the stick overhead. "Moon Healing Escalation!"

"REFRESH!" It was over in an instant, and Shampoo's father slowly slumped to the ground in the process. Tux took his sword from the ground and resheathed it, turning his attention towards Ranma in the process.

"I think I will return this man to his home. You should probably go home as well. If a fragile young maiden like you stays in this weather too long, you may catch a cold." Tux said, obviously grinning from the tone of his voice.

"Shut up!" Ranma growled and punched the idiot square in the face. Of course, he was wearing a mask, but she was pretty damn sure he felt it anyway. An obvious crack appeared in the mask before it completely split and just fell away, revealing the smirking face beneath it Ranma had not been expecting.

"What the...You're-" Ranma was cut off before she finished what she was about to say, her mouth suddenly occupied by the man in the tux. So many things rose up in Ranma all at once, all equally powerful and several of them rather disturbing. However, the first reaction she decided on seemed like the best one available; Righteous Fury.

"What the fuck are you doing!" Ranma demanded, burying her fist into the abdomen of her accoster with enough force to cause him to crack the concrete wall even further than Ranma had when she hit it. He sat there in the crater he had created on impact for a few moments before slowly getting back to his feet, grabbing Shampoo's father in the process.

"You should consider my advice, Sailor moon. You're already turning red. If you do not return home soon, you will surely come down with something." The man in the tux said, still smirking. Ranma tried to punch him again, but he leapt out of range, landing on a street lamp.

"Sayonara." With that, he jumped off and disappeared into the storm, leaving Ranma to her rage. The transformation collapsed around her and Ranma could help but stare after the man with her fists clenched. She hadn't been this pissed since...she couldn't remember.

"RANMA!" Someone shouted, causing Ranma to turn around in annoyance to see who would dare bother her right now. It was Ryu, or rather, the girl Ryu had become. She could see Ryoga and Konatsu some ways behind her, but ignored them.

"I challenge you to a rematch, Ranma! You and me, Yamasenken vs. Umisenken! You owe me after turning me into a girl!" Ryu demanded. Ranma laughed mirthlessly, obviously not amused by Ryu's antics.

"I'm not in the fucking mood right now, Ryu. I've had a bad day. Don't push me." Ranma replied, still glaring even though the subject of her ire was long gone. Ryu growled in response, returning the glare he assumed was directed at her.

"_You've_ had a bad day? I'm a girl because of you, you bastard! Don't even talk to me about a bad day! You ruined my life, the least you could do is give me back my Yamasenken!" Ryu demanded, pointing accusingly at Ranma. Ranma growled again, her patience at its end.

"Fine! You want to fight, fine. But don't bitch to me when I put you in the hospital. I'm in no mood to hold back." Ranma responded, a slight smile making its way to her face as she took on an all too familiar stance. Beating the ever living shit out of Ryu might just do something to get rid of this mind numbing frustration she was feeling. She was almost looking forward to it.

* * *

Herb sighed and began to slow down from his exercise, working his way to a stopping point. He had felt a disturbance on the edge of his senses, a presence that was coming his way. For a moment, he thought it may have been that annoying woman again before he realized the energy emanating from this person was far different from hers; darker. As Herb stopped his practice, he turned around to greet the man behind him.

"Who are you, and why are you disturbing me?" Herb demanded, offering no patience or mercy to fools that dared defy the prince of the musk.

"I am Kunzite, general of the dark kingdom, and I have come to make you an offer." Kunzite said, bowing deeply to show the proper respect to a man of royalty. He could also feel the power within this individual, and was somewhat disturbed how it utterly dwarfed his own. The white crystal did not play around, it seemed. It had found a truly powerful individual indeed.

"I'm not interested. Leave immediately." Herb replied, turning away from Kunzite and preparing to go back into his practice. When Kunzite did not immediately obey his orders, the dragon prince stopped and glared over his shoulder.

"It isn't wise to defy me." Herb growled, a bit of his power escaping as his aura took form around him. Kunzite resisted the urge to flinch.

"You haven't even heard my suggestion yet, it would be wise not to dismiss me so quickly." Kunzite insisted, but still stayed respectful. There was no reason to earn the prince's ire. It'd only hinder his plan. However, Herb seemed to be ignoring him now, instead turning his attention in another direction.

"HERB!" A feminine voice cried out, causing Kunzite to look and gasp in horror at what he saw. This wasn't even japan! What was one of them doing here!

"I've come to settle our score!" The blonde girl shouted out again, quickening her pace as she walked confidently towards the prince.

"You again. You are a skilled warrior, but your persistence is starting to get annoying. If you weren't so insufferable, I might consider you for a bridal interview." Herb growled, already flaring his aura. Though he was talking as if he were unconcerned, his actions suggested he was preparing to get into a fight with the girl.

"What is the meaning of this? Why is a Sailor Senshi here!" Kunzite demanded, pointing at the blonde. For her part, she looked confused. Herb did as well.

"Eh? What are you talking about? I'm the only Sailor Venus around!" Sailor Venus insisted, before turning to Herb, "Who the hell is this guy anyway?"

* * *

To be Continued.

Current Cross Count: 8

Author's Notes:

I can't believe it nearly took me a year to update this. I feel foolish now. Anyway, it's finally updated. Don't ask when Chapter 8's gonna show though. I have no idea.

Next time: Ranma and Ryu have a rematch, Senken style! The Tendo's aunt comes into town and seems to have attracted the attention of Zoisite, and Kunzite's plans seem to have been foiled by the appearance of Sailor Venus. Kunzite goes back to the drawing board and Sailor Venus becomes curious of these so called imposters in Japan. And what's up with these weird ass dreams Ryu and Konatsu start having? Find out in the next installment of Bishonen Senshi Sailor Moon: Clash of the Titans.

Ryo-Wolf


	9. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma, though I'd figure that that's a given. I also don't own Sailor moon, though if you thought I did you have mental problems. As for the many other series I've crossed with, I don't own those either.

Author's Notes:

2 years, eh? Long time. Those of you who have come back probably thought this fic was dead. I kinda did too, but then I found that someone listed it on TVTropes as a recommended fanfiction, and I had a sudden urge to continue it. So if any of you were eagerly awaiting this fic to come back to life, turn all your thanks towards Cryptic Mirror.

Of course, I'm just as stuck now as I was then, unable to get past an annoying block in my timeline, so I'm cheating. I'm skipping past the part I was stuck on, and there's a flashback in the middle of this chapter to make up for it. I apologize in advance if you find this set up confusing.

* * *

Ranma blinked water out of her eyes as she stared through the rain at her opponent, swaying ever so slightly as the wind and water pelted her. She hardly noticed it, her anger still burning strong after her recent encounter with Serpise and that damn bastard in the mask. Her fists clenched, seemingly on their own. She could almost feel the cathartic impact of her knuckles against Ryu's face already. She was looking forward to it.

The storm was absolutely deafening around them, with gale force winds blowing the rains nearly horizontal. A trashcan bounced down the road nearby, the garbage inside riding the wind like small paper birds, unable to find purchase on the ground against the storm's fury. Nearby trees bent against the constant force, their branches blown back and waving madly. All around them, the storm battered the street. It seemed like nothing could withstand its power. Nothing but them. Ranma and Ryu, standing tall, unmoving. Konatsu looked out at the two of them with some degree of awe from her position, taking shelter in the nook of a nearby building. Ryoga was at her feet, shivering against the rain in his small pig body, but he too had his eyes locked on the two fighters. They were like statues standing before a flood, defiant against the forces of nature. They simply stood, and stared. Finally, after what felt like hours, the silence within the cacophony of rain was broken by a light, feminine chuckle that slowly built up to maniacal laughter.

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this, Ranma!" Ryu shouted, an eager grin clear on her face. Finally, she would get the rematch she'd been waiting for. She'd prove once and for all that her art was superior.

"Same stakes as before, Ryu!" Ranma responded, ignoring Ryu's words, "When I win, you seal the Yamasenken, permanently!"

"Screw that!" Ryu growled back, undoing the straps of her gloves and letting the weighted cloth hit the ground with a thump.

"The Yamasenken is _mine._ I'm never abandoning it again! This match is on different terms! When I win, I'm gonna make you turn me back into a man. I don't care if you have to devote your life to finding a way, you're changing me back!" Ryu continued removing her weights, removing the ankle straps before pausing a moment at her boots. Begrudgingly, she took them off. They didn't fit right and would only get in the way during the upcoming fight. She almost regretted not asking Ranma's mother for a change of clothes when she had the chance.

"Tch, whatever." Ranma muttered, not really caring that Ryu probably couldn't hear what she said, "You aren't gonna win, so what do I get when you lose?"

Ryu laughed at the remark, thinking for a moment what ridiculous thing she could give Ranma in the highly unlikely scenario that she'd lose. Finally, a thought came to her, and she promptly voiced it with a sarcastic smirk. "I'll join your stupid monster hunting gang. How's that sound?"

"So you become my personal servant if I win, eh?" Ranma smirked, falling into the familiar stance of the Umisenken, "Fine! Sounds good to me!"

Ryu sneered at Ranma's response, but said nothing. She simply removed the last of her weights and stood at the ready, feeling her surroundings. She was distinctly aware of the way her soaked clothes clung to her body, the mop of hair hanging heavily on her head, and the cold and clammy asphalt beneath her bare feet. She did her best to banish these distractions from her mind, dropping into a deep horse stance and flexing her body. Ranma rose a slight eyebrow at the display, seeing a faint glow start to build through the rain.

"The Umisenken and the Yamasenken are two sides of the same coin, complete opposites," Ryu began, her body beginning to glow. "And yet the Umisenken is powerless without its opening move, without that damn aura reducing stance."

She sunk deeper into her stance, her muscles tensing as she slowly drew her power out from her core. "It's like you said before," She continued, her aura now thick about her, "Umisenken is meaningless if you can see it."

Ranma could feel herself holding her breath as Ryu stood in her stance, half crouched and body tense with effort. Her body was now noticeably glowing, even through the rain. 'What the hell is she doing?'

"After our last fight, I had an epiphany. I realized then that the opposite has to be true for the Yamasenken. If the Umisenken's true potential is realized when the aura is dropped to an absolute minimum, until it all but vanishes, then the Yamasenken's true potential must be realized when the aura is raised to an absolute maximum, until it's practically ever present!" Her aura continued to build higher and higher, brighter and brighter, the heat within battling against the cold without. Ranma's eyes widened slightly as she felt the waves of power flowing off of Ryu as she continuously pressed her aura to its limits, pushing it farther and farther. Ranma could actually feel the heat now, despite the rain, despite the distance.

"I've spent every day since my defeat perfecting this technique, ensuring that I can bring out my aura to its maximum. But I've never been able to practice it with the Yamasenken, not until now anyway." Ryu's clothes and hair actually seemed to be drying somewhat in the intense heat of her aura, causing them both to start blowing in a wind completely separate from the storm, one generated by Ryu herself.

"I have to thank you for this much, Ranma. Were it not for you, I never would have realized what I had been missing. So I think I'll show it to you, the True Yamasenken!" Ryu's aura peaked with all the suddenness of an explosion, enveloping her in a bright blue fire like light while small bolts of lightning seemed to crackle across her body and between her limbs. At the same time she appeared to release a cloud of chi that quickly enveloped most of the surrounding area, filling it with a sense of Ryu's presence. Ranma reflexively took a step back as the chi billowed past her, feeling oddly small against the immensity of this aura.

"This is _my_ Yamasenken. It has no meaning if you can look away." A cruel smirk had found its way to Ryu's face, her hair rising and falling slowly in the flow of her aura.

"So, Ranma..." Ryu shifted her footing and drew in a breath, "**DON'T MOVE!**"

* * *

Bishonen Senshi Sailor Moon

Chapter 8

Clash of the Titans

* * *

Her words reverberated like the Voice Of God, flowing across the massive chi cloud with horrifying clarity, even through the rain. Ranma froze in a manner that almost felt instinctive, a subconscious response from the deepest, most primal parts of her brain. Her eyes widened, locked on the rapidly approaching form of her opponent, dashing through the rain. Her stance was forgotten as she simply stood like a deer looking down the high beams of an oncoming semi truck, paralyzed with a pure, undiluted fear unlike anything she had ever experienced.

'move,' Ranma thought, having fully intended to say it aloud. Her tongue had failed her, however. Her mouth simply hung open slightly as she continued to watch Ryu come at her.

'Move.' Ranma thought again, feeling nothing greater than a twitch in her limbs as she tried and failed to respond. Her eyes were locked on Ryu, unwavering, unblinking. And as the adrenaline continued to pump through her veins, time itself seemed to slow to a crawl.

'Move!' She could see Ryu's breath on the wind, could feel the air parting in her wake, but still her body refused to respond. Ryu's aura was ever present, a horrible vice that seemed to be crushing her from every angle, holding her body in place like cement. She was close now, within arms length, readying herself for the opening strike that Ranma had once seen cleave a tree in half, vertically.

In that instant, she was certain she was going to die.

'MOVE!' Ranma instinctively flinched as Ryu reached her, her eyes snapping shut. And in that instant, when she finally broke eye contact, she felt her strength return.

"Mouko Kaimon Ha!" Ryu had reached her in an instant that had felt like eternity, striking out with her arms and leg with lethal force. Ranma simply dove to the side with all the power her legs could give her, landing on her side almost 5 meters away while Ryu's attack struck where she had stood before.

Ryu's attack slammed into the outer wall of a building, already cracked and broken from Ranma's earlier fight with Serpise. A move that had once torn a tree in two now did the very same to 3 stories of concrete, brick and mortar, cleaving the building in half with surprisingly little effort, smashing into it with such explosive force that Ranma almost suspected Ryu had bombs in her limbs.

"Holy..." Konatsu muttered in surprise, watching the outer wall of the building begin to lean before it simply crumbled into the alleyways on either side of it. The small pig at her feet gaped as well, somewhat surprised by the fact that Ryu just managed to level half a building with a single strike.

"Incredible!" Ryu shouted with glee, extracting her bare foot from the pile of rubble before turning towards her foe. Ranma slowly returned to her feet, her confusion at her own reaction drowned out by outrage and shame. Ryu simply stood by and watched Ranma regain her footing with an arrogant smirk on her face, angering Ranma all the more.

"You done showing off? Cause this fight starts now." Ranma growled out with false bravado. She could still feel Ryu's presence everywhere, suffocating her, but she couldn't let it slow her down again. Ranma stood in the rain, swaying side to side slowly as she took a deep breath and calmed her nerves, willing her aura to fade. Her body seemed to fray at the edges as she did so, like she wasn't entirely there. Lightning crashed some distance behind her, illuminating her body through the intense downpour as she adapted the Umisenken, masking her movement. Though she was visible now, she knew perfectly well that she'd all but disappear once she began to move.

As Ryu watched, all signs of Ranma simply faded away. She was like a film with several frames missing; jerking back and forth like she were under a strobe light. Ryu knew from experience that the redhead would practically disappear the second she moved, vanishing from the last of her senses. But something was different now from before. Though all signs of Ranma seemed to have disappeared, it seemed to leave behind a hole. Ryu's smirk grew as she realized it was her aura that was responsible. As long as Ranma was within her aura, she could feel her presence, Umisenken or no.

"Losing your nerve? Come at me already!" Ryu taunted, standing at the ready. Ranma didn't respond. She simply began to move, dashing in a wide circle to Ryu's left. Something wasn't right, though. She could see Ryu's face still. Ryu was staring right through her, but was clearly still following her.

'What the...' Ranma thought to herself in confusion. How?

"Kijin Raishu Dan!" Ryu twisted and let loose, forcing Ranma to stop mid stride and leap as high as she could. The rain and Ryu's aura cloud completely masked the presence of the vacuum blades she knew were coming towards her. The ground beneath her parted to an unseen force before the building behind her simply imploded and collapsed.

'How big was that blade?' Ranma thought, landing from her jump in the trench of the attack. Ryu could see her. She didn't know how, but she could, which made the Umisenken completely pointless.

'And this damn aura is annoying, it feels like Ryu is everywhere...wait a minute.' As Ryu watched, Ranma stood up straight and changed stances, her face going blank as she built up an aura of her own.

"What's wrong, Ranma? Umisenken not working?" Ryu asked, unsure of what to make of this. Ranma now stood at the ready, completely abandoning the ghostly posture of the Umisenken. Ryu blinked as she sized up this change in her opponent, certain her eyes were playing tricks on her. It looked like Ranma had some frost gathering on her...

"Don't stop now, Ryu-chan. Gimme your best shot!" Ranma taunted, feeling the heat coming off of Ryu noticeably increase even as the Body of Ice dropped the temperature of her aura several degrees.

"Dokuja Tanketsu Sho!" Ryu growled out, exploding forward with a thrust towards Ranma's chest. She side stepped the blow, barely, staring down at the arm mere inches off target incredulously. She completely missed the follow up. Ryu had simply blurred before Ranma's entire world seemed to become enveloped in pain. She couldn't tell what hit her, or where it hit her. She barely even noticed that the blow had sent her flying away. She righted herself as best she could as she skipped across the wet asphalt, flying against the wind as water pelted her backside. She braced herself as she bounced again only to slam into a brick wall a few seconds later, all the breath leaving her body as the wall buckled with the impact, cratering badly.

'What the...' Ranma's mind went blank as she slumped to the floor, very nearly blacking out.

"When did you get so strong..." Ranma forced herself to her feet, forced herself to ignore the pain as she turned back towards Ryu. She blinked as she realized Ryu was practically on top of her.

"Mouko Kaimon Ha!" Ranma ducked. Ryu flew overhead, cleaving another building in half with enough force that it practically exploded. A field of debris flew back from the impact and Ranma jumped back several feet to avoid it, watching warily for Ryu's return. Her ribs were killing her. She wouldn't be surprised if one of them was broken.

'There's no way I can dodge all his attacks for a spiral,' Ranma thought, bracing herself, 'I'm gonna have to improvise.'

"Dokuja Tenketsu Sho!" Ryu flew from the wreckage of the building like a missile, the rain parting around her in a swirl of air as she struck out towards Ranma's heart. Again, she avoided, though this time she instantly jumped back. Ryu followed just as quickly, lashing out with another strike that Ranma back-stepped to avoid.

'Amaguriken,' Ranma thought, focusing intensely as a blurred fist rocketed towards her face. Her own arm lashed out at equal speed, knocking the blow away as she took another step back, leading Ryu away as she dodged what she could and parried what she couldn't.

"Bwee!" Ryoga bwee'd, not liking where this was going. The storm was bad enough as it was, but it looked like Ranma was intent on adding to the problem.

"Eh? Don't run off, Ryoga!" Konatsu exclaimed, surprised by the way the small piglet erupted out of their cover and ran off like a bat out of hell. The kunoichi followed closely, not even realizing Ryoga was trying to draw her away from ground zero.

'Shit,' Ranma thought, narrowly avoiding a blow that would have crushed her skull like an overripe melon, swatting the follow up aside, 'When the hell did Ryu get so damn fast?'

The spiral was forming nicely, but as she got closer and closer to the center it was becoming harder and harder to avoid Ryu's blows. She only hoped she could hold out just a little bit longer, as there was no way in hell she was going to let Ryu hit her again with the kind of attacks she'd been throwing about so far. Another punch had to be countered at Ranma's own blurred speed, resounding with a crack that distinctly sounded like bone breaking. Ranma flinched from the impact, but ignored the pain. She didn't have time to feel pain.

"Kinshi Kinbaku Sho!" Ryu cried out, pulling a rope out from her pocket and quickly entangling Ranma as she took another step back. Ranma cursed at this, pulling back and lowering her center of gravity to stop Ryu from yanking her off her feet. Instead, Ranma seemed to do the opposite, pulling Ryu off her feet towards the end of the spiral.

"Hiryuu..." Ranma began, twisting her fist back and preparing for her punch, gathering so much cold chi that the rain hitting her skin was already forming an icy sheath around her forearm.

"Geimon Tessen Shi!" Ryu struck out with her hand, aiming for Ranma's solar plexus with a knife hand that would probably put a hole straight through her. Ranma twisted to the side however, the knife hand missing by a few fractions of an inch while Ryu's body hovered just within uppercut range.

"...Shoten _**Ha!**_" Ryu didn't even know what hit her. Ranma had struck with a twisting punch to the gut that drove the air from her lungs, the ice around her knuckles breaking with the impact. But what seemed to follow it hit her like a frozen freight train. The blast tore her off her feet with a roar like thunder, hurling her skyward as the winds dramatically changed. It felt like nature itself was attacking her now, the wind tearing into her body from every angle. She forced her eyes open, looking out in astonishment at the tornado tearing past her into the sky.

Unfortunately for Ranma, she was still tied to Ryu and was effectively anchoring her to the ground. In a matter of moments the Hiryuu Shoten Ha pierced cloud level and seemed to open up a hole in the storm. The sun shone through and blinded the two while the rain completely ceased, leaving them in a strangely tranquil silence. The wind seemed to have stripped Ryu's aura from her body, but it had passed. Now she was falling back to earth, still reeling from that attack but unwilling to let it end there.

"Kijin..." Ryu began as her feet touched ground again, rising up to strike out at Ranma. Only...Ranma wasn't there anymore. The redhead simply disappeared in an instant, like a film with a missing frame.

'Shit!' Ryu cursed with eyes wide open. That tornado had torn her aura away. She hadn't felt Ranma move. She hadn't seen-

"Haku Dato Shin Sho!" Ranma didn't give Ryu time to think it over. Her hands struck with the force of a jackhammer, blurring to the point her arms seemed to vanish past the elbow as her fingers dug into Ryu's back and spine. Ryu screamed as her clothes were obliterated by the intense impacts, the heat building to the point her flesh began to burn from friction alone. With a final double fisted blow, Ryu was hurled forward, landing roughly on her chest nearly a meter from where she started. As she rose painfully to her feet, what little remained of her aura completely collapsed.

"Damn it...I'm not done yet..." Ryu growled. Her entire body was screaming. The aura she had been using still wasn't perfected, she knew that, but she hadn't expected that to happen. Whatever that tornado move was, her aura had only made it worse. She was in so much pain she couldn't even see straight. She stood on trembling legs, Ranma's body seeming to split into 4 identical copies as her vision swam and doubled, but she didn't care. She couldn't let it end like this. She couldn't lose again.

"Ju...Jupiter Power..." Ryu managed, grabbing her pen in desperation.

"You really wanna take it this far, Ryu?" Ranma asked, calmly pulling the brooch out of her shirt. The two locked eyes for a moment, Ranma's unflinching gaze meeting Ryu's pained glare. It only lasted a moment, however, as Ryu slumped to the ground, the pen falling from her fingertips.

She had just enough time to realize she had been beaten before she lost consciousness.

* * *

Ukyo awoke suddenly to the sound of a loud banging against her walls, groaning in protest as she collapsed to her pillow again. She wasn't sure what to do. She had heard about the incoming typhoon and had spent all night locking up and basically armoring her shop against the storm. She ended up with little time to sleep as a result, as the noise of the storm itself combined with her weird dreams kept waking her up.

'Sleep deprivation is bad for the brain. My dreams have been getting weirder and weirder.' She thought to herself. Ranma being a prince was one thing. Even Konatsu and Ryoga being his bodyguards or something was tolerable. But Ryoga being her...I mean, really, Ryoga of all people? Seriously? That was just too damn weird.

The banging continued, causing Ukyo to turn over and hold her pillow over her head. She couldn't go back to sleep. No, the noise and those dreams made that unlikely. She couldn't go to school either, not in this weather. And there was no way she'd be getting any customers, so running the store wasn't even an option.

"Today is looking like a bad day..." She grumbled, climbing out of bed sluggishly and stretching the kinks out of her joints. At least she had mostly healed up from her injuries at the carnival. Having to deal with that on top of everything else going wrong today would have been the last straw.

Another loud bang resounded across the building, this one sounding a great deal more like wood breaking open than the crash of thunder or rain against the walls. Her grogginess forgotten, Ukyo quickly rushed from the room, hoping that whatever broke through her shop dealt minimal damage.

"Ucchan! A little help!" she heard, causing her to blink in surprise as she rushed down the stairs. Her door was hanging open, banging against the wall repeatedly because of the wind, while Ranma and Konatsu dragged...someone...into her shop.

"Ranchan? Konatsu? Who's this, what's going on?" She questioned, looking between the two for an answer. The girl they were carrying was clearly unconscious, so she doubted she'd get a response from her.

"No time to explain, Ucchan. I've gotta get back out there." Ranma said, taking Ryu off her shoulder while a noticeable wince and moving towards the door. She walked straight past Ryoga as he stumbled through the entryway in his pig form, her eyes set on the storm.

"Wait, Ranma! You're hurt! Where are you going?" Konatsu asked, lowering Ryu to the floor as Ranma turned around briefly.

"Shampoo's still out there somewhere, I've got to find her. Stay here with Ukyo!" Ranma said, before stepping outside and pulling the door closed behind her. Konatsu watched the redhead go with a groan, leaving her in an awkward silence with Ukyo. Konatsu still hadn't explained the whole 'I'm a girl now' situation with the chef...

As if reading her mind, Ukyo placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled warmly at the kunoichi.

"Don't worry, Konatsu. Ranma told me everything. I understand." She explained. Konatsu looked at her in surprise.

"E..everything? Really?" She asked in disbelief. No way. Konatsu tried to picture that conversation and failed miserably. Ranma sitting Ukyo down and explaining about how he ran about fighting monsters in a miniskirt? It just wasn't possible.

"I know all about you getting kidnapped by the Monkey Ninja King, and how he wanted to make you his bride. It's terrible that Ranma and Ryoga didn't arrive before he turned you into a girl, but at least you seem to be coping well." Ukyo continued. Konatsu very nearly fell over.

"He told you about the...Monkey...Ninja...King...huh?" Konatsu muttered, barely able to get the words out without her eyebrow twitching. What the hell did Ranma tell her?

"Uh huh. It seemed a little far fetched at first, but stranger things have happened, you know?" Ukyo added with a shrug. Konatsu dropped her head, wanting to feel disbelief but knowing it was true. It was sad how true that was.

"So, who is this, anyway? And what happened to Shampoo?" Ukyo asked, gesturing to the girl in torn clothes currently laying on the floor of her shop. Konatsu chuckled nervously at that before picking Ryu up, heading towards the stairs.

"That's a long story..."

* * *

She watched as he strode into the chamber with the posture and grace of a man befitting his station, the gnarled wooden staff he carried with him clicking loudly against the marble floor. She looked at him with intense curiosity, this being the first time she had ever been present during such a visit. It wasn't often the Emotoas Kingdom sent them emissaries.

"Rinji of the Emotoas, is it? What news brings you so far from your kingdom?" The queen asked, sitting upon her throne at the far end of the audience chamber. The man identified as Rinji stopped in the middle of the room, looking up towards the queen as he stood at attention. She couldn't see his face, however. The tattered, leaf green cloak he wore over his equally tattered tunic concealed his face from her vantage point.

"I'm afraid my news is not the best, your highness. The Red Witch of the North is on the move, and has already made her intentions against us clear. We believe she intends to strike the Moon Kingdom next. I have come as a warning, and to seek aid from your kingdom." Rinji spoke clearly and respectfully, earning a few murmurs from the various nobles in the chamber. However, she paid them no mind, instead turning towards the queen to see her reaction.

"We thank you for this warning, Rinji of Emotoas, but we are peaceful. If Beryl rises against us, we will defend ourselves, but I'm afraid I cannot aid you in a war against her." Queen Serenity replied, earning more murmurs from the crowd as Rinji took a step forward.

"But your highness!" He shouted, but was cut off by a wave of the queen's hand.

"I'm very sorry, but I cannot help you." The queen said solemnly, as the emissary of the Emotoas dropped his head.

"Venus-chan, what's going on? I don't understand." The princess of the moon whispered to the woman next to her, briefly drawing her eyes away from the man in the cloak. She looked down at herself for a moment, seeing the vibrant green gown she wore as she realized who she was. She was the princess of Jupiter, one of the protectors of the moon princess. Odd, she had been so enthralled with the man in the cloak, she had forgotten herself.

"I was given specific instructions on how to approach this meeting, but it's clear to me that secrecy is not an option." Rinji suddenly announced loudly, lifting his head again to look at the queen.

"The Red Witch Beryl has gained some kind of incredibly dark magic. She has enslaved the Northern Kingdom to her cause and taken Princess Akiko, our Prince's betrothed, as her hostage. She has used her underhanded tricks on our Prince, demanding he come alone to set her free. Even now, he marches on his own, surely to his death. I have come to request your aid because we have no choice. Without our prince, our forces are lost. We will surely fall, and with us, Beryl will control the whole of Earth. The Moon Kingdom will surely follow." He explained, the murmur in the court growing as he continued. Jupiter noticed Prince Endymion rising in his seat, clearly unsettled by this news. It was no surprise. He was the prince of the Northern Kingdom, after all, and Akiko was his sister.

"Be that as it may, I cannot-" The Queen began.

"That's not all!" Rinji suddenly interrupted. A gasp of surprise rang through the court, followed by a roar of disapproval.

"What insolence! How dare you interrupt her majesty!" A voice amongst the court rang out louder than the rest, followed by a great murmur of agreement.

"I apologize for my rudeness, but there is more to say. There are rumors that our kingdom has in its possession several artifacts of great power, and I assure you that these rumors are true. There are 5 in all, protected by the members of the Emotoas for generations. I hold one in my hand even now." Rinji continued, holding out his staff for a moment as all eyes fell on it.

"However, our prince is in possession of the greatest of our Artifacts, for its power is not only unmatched, but it controls the other four. If it falls into Beryl's hands, she could easily claim the rest. I believe this is her intention. She will steal our Prince's soul, command his Artifact, and claim them all in short order." Rinji brought his staff back to his side and looked up towards the queen once more. Jupiter could feel the tension from the man rising. She had a feeling the next thing he said would be momentous.

"With all 5 in her control, she may rival the power of your highness' Ginzuishou. Even your kingdom will be lost." The court was in an uproar, vehemently disagreeing with this claim. Rinji suddenly fell to his knees, however, causing the rabble to die out as he pressed his head to the floor.

"I beg you, please, help us." He pleaded. For a long moment, all was silent, and he remained in his position on the floor. All eyes turned to the queen, awaiting her response.

"Rise, Rinji of Emotoas." She said, causing the man to immediately return to his feet. His hood fell from his head as he did, finally revealing his face to Jupiter.

She froze in place immediately upon seeing it, everything around her slowing to a stop as all sound died. Something was wrong. Somehow, she felt out of place. That was her, wasn't it? Somehow, she felt she was looking at herself.

Rinji turned straight towards her suddenly and their eyes met, the feeling of wrongness becoming even greater. He looked at her solemnly, and she suddenly felt as if she had suffered a great loss. The court was gone now, as well as the chamber itself. It was only her and Rinji, standing in a featureless void.

"Am I-" She began, only to see him shake his head.

"No, you are not. You never were. You're something greater than I, than her. You are more than the sum of your parts. Never forget that." Rinji said simply, before his body seemingly started to fade away.

"Wait, I don't understand! What does that mean?" She shouted after him, but it was too late. Everything was already fading to black.

* * *

Ryu sat up in a cold sweat, breathing heavily as she tried to shake off the clutches of sleep. She stared out into the blackness of the room in confusion, unsure where she was or how she had gotten there. It took her several moments to recognize her living room. She had apparently fallen asleep on the couch.

"What the hell was that?" Ryu muttered, trying to collect herself. She'd had strange dreams before, dreams of palaces and gowns, of life as a princess. Ever since she became Sailor Jupiter, she'd been having those dreams. They were always unsettling, sometimes disturbing, but this...this was a new level.

Ryu put her face in her hands, trying not to think for a few seconds, just concentrating on slowing her breathing. Slowly, she pulled her hands down, rubbing the sleep from her face before looking into the darkness of the room once again. She managed to forget the dream long enough to wonder what time it was. She must have drifted off sometime in the afternoon, and awoken in the middle of the night. But then her own face flashed across her mind, the face she once had. The face of a man, of the former Ryu Kumon, and apparently Rinji of Emotoas.

She stood with a start, a sudden urge to pace overcoming her. What the hell had that meant? The entire dream had been oddly vivid, more lucid than she was used to. There was a strange sense of familiarity about the whole thing, almost like déjà vu. And the end, right before she woke up...that had felt different. Even as the rest of the dream started to fade, like all dreams did after waking, that part stayed in her mind with crystal clarity. It felt real.

"I need to clear my head." She decided, stopping in the middle of the room. She looked around her apartment, trying to clear her thoughts with anything she could. She concentrated on the walls, on the ugly wallpaper she really needed to remove one day. Her thoughts then turned toward the room itself. It was sparsely furnished, with a simple couch and comfy chair sitting in one corner, framing a small coffee table on two sides. Then there was the punching bag set up in the opposite corner, with the rest of the room left empty.

She remembered when she first got this apartment some 3 weeks ago, after recovering from her fight with Ranma. That loss still bothered her, even now. How the hell was she supposed to know Ranma could summon tornadoes? If it weren't for that damn technique, she would have won, and would already be on her way back to manhood. She never would have had to worry about these annoying princess dreams, or being Sailor Jupiter.

Now that was a horrible idea. Of all things, why had she offered to join Ranma's stupid monster hunting gang? In retrospect, she was kicking herself. It forced her to stay in Nerima, forced her to get this apartment, forced her to stick closer to Ranma than she ever would have wanted. She should have offered him money, or something. But no, she was running around fighting monsters, like when the Tendo's aunt turned out to have one of those stupid crystals in her chest.

-.|x

* * *

-.|x

"I'm still confused." Ryu muttered, watching Ranma rub his temples in frustration. She turned briefly towards the door, hearing some laughter and the faint murmurs of conversation floating up the stairs. Kasumi was down there now, entertaining some relative of the family. Ryu hadn't really been paying attention when she was introduced, but as it stood, whatever they were talking about down there seemed much more interesting than what Ranma was trying to explain in here.

"Alright, let's try this again." Ranma said slowly, exhaling loudly in an obvious attempt to calm his nerves. He grabbed a pencil and a pad of paper off a nearby dresser, before quickly scribbling something on the first page.

"We're fighting the Dark Kingdom. They're evil. They make monsters. Monsters are bad." Ranma explained, holding up the pad of paper. He had drawn a rather crude castle with an ominous rain cloud over it, surrounded by a bunch of vaguely circular shapes which, she assumed, were supposed to be monsters. The words 'Daaku Kingudamu' we're scrawled across the top of the page in handwriting fit for a three year old.

"I see." Ryu said simply as Ranma tore off the first page and went about scribbling on the next.

"The Dark Kingdom is lead by some queen whose name I forget, and her four generals, who are a bunch of jackasses. I've already killed the first one, who was called Jadeite. Ryoga says he killed the second one, who he says was called Nephrite, but I never saw him and he's probably lying. We're currently fighting a guy named Zoisite." Ranma said, showing Ryu another page. This one had a crude drawing that was probably supposed to be Ranma, standing on the fallen body of a person labeled 'Jedaito.' There were two other drawings on the page: One was a fire-breathing, horned, fanged blonde person labeled 'Zoisaito,' and the other was a scrawny looking stick figure with a sad face, labeled 'Nefuraito.' He was surrounded in question marks.

"Ah. So they're all named after minerals, huh?" Ryu commented, looking up to see a completely blank look cross Ranma's face. "...Nevermind."

"Anyhow," Ranma started, tearing the page away and drawing a new one, "Zoisite is looking for the seven Rainbow Crystals, which are hidden inside of people. When he pulls them out, those people turn into monsters, and we have to fight them and change them back. Luna says we have to collect all the Rainbow Crystals first. That's pretty much the gist of it."

This time Ranma held up a picture of the fire-breathing Zoisite from the previous page pulling a crystal out of someone's chest. This was followed by an arrow, which led to an almost identical scribbling of the person, just with horns, fangs and claws.

"Uh huh..." Ryu muttered, nodding her head slowly, "So why do you need to collect the Rainbow Crystals?"

Ranma just stared. He began to open his mouth to answer, then stopped, and seemed to think about it for a moment. He rose up again a moment later, with a purpose, before pausing and deflating, sitting back down with an unsure look. Finally, he just shrugged.

"You're-" Ryu began, but cut herself short. They both snapped their heads towards the door suddenly, hearing the distinct sound of a scream rising up the stairs.

"What the-"

"Kasumi!" Ranma was off like a shot with Ryu close behind, neither one bothering to navigate the stairs, instead vaulting all the way to the bottom without breaking stride. They found Kasumi on the ground with a bruise on her face, slowly rising, while Zoisite stood triumphantly over a blonde woman in the living room, a green crystal clutched in his hands.

"Hold it!" Ranma shouted, diving towards Zoisite with full intent to tear the effeminate man apart. He was too late, as the blonde general simply vanished in a flash of flower petals, leaving Ranma to hit nothing but the dinner table.

"Aunt Rushuna..." Kasumi muttered, worry clear on her face as she returned to her feet. Ryu looked from the young woman to her aunt, who seemed to be writhing in pain on the floor, her body faintly glowing.

'Pull out the crystal, turn into a monster. Isn't that how it goes?' Ryu thought to herself, gritting her teeth. She spared a glance to Kasumi, knowing they couldn't transform with her around, then to Ranma, hoping he had a battle plan. Ryu was fairly confident she could tear any monster limb from limb with her Yamasenken, but this was Kasumi's aunt. Kasumi probably wanted her aunt to keep her limbs.

"Ranma..." Ryu spoke up as the glow got brighter, and Rushuna began to scream again. Ranma seemed to read her mind without even looking at her, simply shaking her head. The meaning was obvious. No Yamasenken.

"Ah!" Rushuna cried out in finality, the entire room becoming a flash of white light, forcing the three teens to shield their eyes. When it dimmed, a new figure was standing where she had previously been, wearing a large cowboy hat and a short red poncho over a white dress, a large holster prominently hanging from each hip.

"Aunt...Rushuna...?" Kasumi asked in confusion, looking at the Youma now standing in her living room. The youma smirked at them, raising the brim of her hat slightly and giving them a wink.

"It's not your aunt anymore, Kasumi. The only way we can bring her back is by defeating this monster. Ryu and I will take care of this, so just get as far away as you can." Ranma explained, never taking his eyes off the youma.

"Take care of me, eh? You think you can handle little ol' me, boy?" The youma spoke up, her hands falling to her hips and hovering over her holsters. Ranma and Ryu both tensed, readying themselves.

In an instant they began to move, but the Youma was simply quicker. Her hands came up in a flash, a pair of revolvers in her hands. Two gunshots rang out through the room as pain shot through Ryu's chest. She could see Ranma being hurled back out of the corner of her eye as she fell, sliding back across the floor towards the foot of the stairs.

Kasumi flinched at the noise, looking between the two fallen teens. Neither seemed to be bleeding, which was good. Whatever this monster was shooting, it wasn't bullets. With a firm stare, Kasumi turned her eyes to the Youma. She smirked in response.

"You've got something to say to me, girlie?" The Youma asked with the same arrogance as before. Kasumi was unfazed, her eyes still locked on the monster. The Youma chuckled at her bravado. Despite the hard stare this human was putting on, her nervousness was clear in the way she was playing with the floorboards with her foot.

"This is my home, and I am its caretaker. I cannot allow monsters to attack my guests." Kasumi said, a harshness in her tone Ranma had never heard before. Was Kasumi really going to stand up to this Youma?

"Kasumi...you'll be killed..." Ranma muttered, trying to sit up. That shot had hurt like hell, it took most of his concentration to see straight.

"I'm sorry, Ranma, but I'm afraid I have to take responsibility. I can't stand by and let you and your friend get hurt." Kasumi replied, her foot still moving the loose floorboards back and forth. The Youma laughed, staring at Kasumi with a big grin on her face.

"And what are you gonna do about it girly? You-" Kasumi slammed her foot down, the floorboard in front of her rising suddenly out of the floor. "-can't-" The youma's eyes followed the rising board curiously, surprise spreading across her face as she noticed what was bolted to the underside. "-hurt-" It was a bolt action rifle, with a bore big enough that the Youma could very nearly see the bullet waiting in the chamber. Her eyes fell lower, spotting a string that was tied around the trigger, the other end connected firmly to the underside of the house. "-me?" The floorboard continued to rise, not stopping until the string became taught, forcefully pulling the trigger. At that point, it was roughly pointed at her torso.

The deafening bang took everyone but Kasumi by surprise. Ryu and Ranma both reflexively flinched while the Youma had far more to worry about as she tried to dodge the bullet and failed miserably, taking the shot in the chest and stumbling back from the impact. Kasumi was already moving for the stairs as the Youma regained her balance, reaching for her pistols.

"Why you!" The Youma growled out, lifting her weapons. Kasumi's fingers found the banister of the stairs as she quickly twisted, pulling away a panel complete with a pump action shotgun that was attached to the other side. The sound of Kasumi cocking the weapon in question actually gave the Youma pause, just long enough for her to get her aim, before they both opened fire on one another.

Kasumi got off a shot before being forced into a diving roll, avoiding the pair of shots that put large holes in the far wall. The Youma was less fortunate, taking the shotgun blast full in the chest and grunting in pain.

"Oh dear," Kasumi muttered with a grim look, seeing the two bullet holes in the wall, "Father won't be pleased." She cocked the shotgun, ejecting her spent cartridge before ducking out of cover and taking another shot at the Youma. The spray of pellets shredded what remained of the poncho, revealing the metal plate the Youma had strapped to her torso.

"Oh, that's not fair." Kasumi muttered, flinching as several of the Youma's shot bit through the wooden door frame she was taking cover behind. She glanced towards Ryu's position at the base of the stairs, leaning out towards her before flinching back as another shot took out a chunk of the frame.

"Kumon-san, would you please open the small panel on the wall beside you? I'd really appreciate it." Kasumi asked politely, leaning out of cover quickly to unload a quick burst of shots at the youma, cocking the weapon in-between each one so quickly Ryu barely saw her do it. The Youma stumbled back even further as the metal plate was bombarded with pellets, but within moments she was moving again, taking several shots at the cover Kasumi was hiding behind.

Ryu wasn't entirely sure what the hell was happening, but she wasn't about to argue with the girl with the shotgun. Finding the panel in question, she discovered it was filled with shotgun ammo, and she quickly slid several boxes of it towards Kasumi.

"Thank you!" Kasumi beamed, grabbing two shells from one of the boxes and loading them into her weapon. As the Youma's shots bit into the frame on one side, Kasumi leaned out the other side, aiming for barely a second before firing. The first shot sent a slug straight through the strap on the Youma's left side, the second taking out the right. The metal plate she had been using as body armor fell to the ground with a thud, just as Kasumi started fully loading the shotgun with a new type of round.

"Ranma, would you please go upstairs and get the metal case out from under my bed?" Kasumi requested as she stood up. Ranma just looked up at her and nodded as she stepped out of cover, shotgun at the ready. The Youma opened fire the instant she came into view, but Kasumi fired at the same time, the rubber slug from her shotgun hitting the magical projectile in mid air, each deflecting harmlessly. She dodged the second shot, letting it dig into the floorboards behind her as she chambered the next round, pulling the trigger just as quickly. It seemed the Youma was no longer satisfied with just standing there and dove for cover behind the couch, but not before unloading several more shots in Kasumi's direction.

"Where did she get all those guns? Or learn how to use them?" Ryu asked as Ranma limped towards the stairs. She struggled to a sitting position, watching as the Youma and Kasumi moved from the dining room towards the kitchen, each missing by inches as their opponent dodged around their shots.

"Don't ask me, nobody ever tells me anything in this house. Nabiki can move things with her mind, Kasumi's a gun nut. Next thing you know, Akane's gonna turn out to be a witch. I'm getting really sick of all these surprises." Ranma replied, slumping down against the side of the stairs beside Ryu. They couldn't see Kasumi or the Youma anymore, both having moved deeper into the house, but the sound of gunshots was still clear from here, and didn't seem to be slowing down.

"Shouldn't we, you know, help her?" Ryu asked, turning towards Ranma. The sound of gunshots suddenly changed, as the dull thump of the shotgun was suddenly replaced by a massive blast that seemed to vibrate the walls. Seemed like Kasumi changed guns again, and had apparently opted for something that probably qualified as a cannon.

Ranma sighed in response, reaching into his shirt for the broach he used to transform. Up until now, Kasumi had been doing surprisingly well on her own, but he knew that he was the only one who could change Rushuna back, otherwise the fight would never end.

"Yeah, we should probably put an end to this before Kasumi pulls a rocket launcher out of the ceiling." Ranma said with a slight smirk, though he wasn't entirely sure if he was joking. It wouldn't surprise him if she actually had a rocket launcher, at this point.

* * *

Kasumi slowly gathered her breath as she clutched the large pistol in both hands, her back pressed firmly against the center island. She looked around at the several bullet holes marring her kitchen and frowned, thinking of the patches she'd have to apply. Plaster would probably work for some. No one would notice after a little paint. The cabinet doors, however, would need replacing. But that was a project for another day.

She looked straight across from her, reaching out with her foot towards the cabinet under the sink. She managed to catch the edge and slowly pulled it open, looking past the cleaning supplies to the box of ammunition sitting next to the dish soap. She reached out again, barely able to touch it with the tips of her toes, and slowly worked it towards her.

A gunshot rang out as one of the Youma's bullets shot through the cabinet door, just above her leg, and buried itself in the sink pipes. She yelped silently and kicked the box of ammo towards herself and pulled her leg back, looking at the hole in the cabinet door and the pipe behind it. Now she'd need to call the plumber, too. So many little things were starting to pile up.

Kasumi glanced towards a pan she had left to dry by the sink, seeing the Youma taking cover in the hallway through its reflection. As she reloaded her magazines with practiced precision, She was momentarily glad she listened to Mrs. Saito at the supermarket and changed soaps. You could really notice the difference with that mirror shine.

With a satisfying click, she drove the magazine home into the base of the pistol handle, before tucking her extras into the belt of her apron. As she chambered a round, she reminded herself to practice more with magazine loading pistols. She had tried to reload her handgun with the trick Aunt Rushuna had taught her on pure reflex, nearly getting shot because of it. She was too accustomed to revolvers, it seemed.

'I'm sure Aunt Rushuna will be happy to practice with me once this is over,' She thought, a slight frown crossing her face as she remembered this monster she was now fighting _was_ Aunt Rushuna. She really hoped Ranma was right. She hated to think she'd have to shoot her Aunt to death.

The Youma moved suddenly, dashing out of sight and down the hall. Instantly Kasumi stood, knowing she'd be coming in from the other entrance in an attempt to flank her. The Youma came into view and Kasumi fired, the large pistol in her hands retorting loudly, the massive .50 calibre round exploding from the barrel with a blast of burning gas close behind it, leaving a fireball hanging in mid air at the breach of the gun for a fraction of a second before it burnt out. The Youma reeled from the blow, thrown off balance by the unexpected shot, but Kasumi didn't let up. She pulled the trigger as rapidly as her fingers allowed, giving off a series of claps that sounded more appropriate coming from an automatic rifle than the pistol she was holding.

The Youma backpedaled with each additional impact, large welts forming on her body from the large rubber bullets that were slamming into her. She was lucky Kasumi was using non-lethal rounds. Metal jackets would have gone through her like she were tissue paper.

Kasumi counted the shots, waiting until the clip emptied, her last round in the chamber, before hitting the magazine release. In the same motion, she lowered her other hand and grabbed a spare from her apron, slamming it home before the first clip even hit the ground and pulling the trigger once again. The Youma was wavering on her feet now, several shots smashing into her head, knocking her hat to the floor, and still Kasumi refused to stop shooting. The third and final clip slid home, the second hitting the ground just as the gunshots renewed. Three rounds went off before the fourth jammed the gun, the last of the loud shots slowly dying out to silence, still reverberating around the room.

"Supreme Thunder!" Lightning cracked through the air with the smell of ozone, the Youma convulsing from the intense shock for several moments as the magic went through her system. Kasumi glanced up in surprise towards Sailor Jupiter, not expecting this interruption. The Youma let out a long breath as her pistols fell from her numb fingers. Shortly after, she slumped to her knees and simply sat, unmoving.

"I think she's had enough," Sailor Moon muttered, walking into the room with wand in hand, "Moon Healing-"

-.|x

* * *

-.|x

The doorbell rang, breaking Ryu out of her thoughts. Who would be coming at this hour? Who would be coming at all? She sure as hell wasn't the type to have visitors. Curious, but mostly confused, Ryu moved towards the door.

"Good Evening!" The younger of the men at the door greeted, looking no older than 15. The other, elder man, probably 16 or 17, was smiling at her and holding a bowl of some kind of food.

"We just moved in next door, and we were just coming over to say-_you're not wearing pants!_" The younger boy suddenly spared a glance down and his entire train of thought derailed, instead spouting the first thing that sprung to his mind. Ryu glanced down herself and groaned, having totally forgotten that she had been exercising in a T-shirt and underwear earlier that afternoon, before her unexpected nap.

"Welcome to the neighborhood." Ryu stated before slamming the door in their faces. She did her best to contain her embarrassment and was failing miserably. Answering the door wearing woman's underwear. She'd never live it down.

"Oi, oi! Panties girl, don't slam the door! We want to say hi!" The younger boy's voice carried through her door. Ryu went red in the face as she quickly rushed towards her room. It's the only underwear she had that fit, damn it!

"Damn it Konatsu, why didn't you bring me any decent clothes?" Ryu muttered to herself, still fighting down her blush and damning Konatsu's name repeatedly while digging into her closet for something to wear.

* * *

"Ah-choo!" The loud, violent sneeze disturbed the otherwise silent atmosphere of the side streets. Konatsu bent slightly, covering her mouth after the sudden reaction.

"Are you-" Akane began, only to flinch back when Konatsu sneezed a second time, louder than the first. The kunoichi placed a single hand against the wall beside her for support, still covering her mouth with the other.

"I think I'm o-Ah-**choo!**" Konatsu was cut off by her own sneeze, rising up slightly from the force of it. As she recovered she stood there for a moment, waiting to see if it would hit her again, but it seemed like she was done. Konatsu slowly removed her hand from her face, weary of any further sneezes.

"Either someone is saying some really nasty things about you, or you have a cold." Akane commented, watching curiously as Konatsu recovered.

"I think you're right..." Konatsu muttered as they continued on their way. "I can't think of anybody who'd want to say bad things about me, though."

"Maybe it's the Monkey Ninja King?" Akane suggested honestly. Konatsu faltered slightly with a nervous chuckle.

"Ranma told you about that, huh?" Konatsu asked. Apparently it was the official cover story, as absurd as it was.

"Weirder things have happened, you know?" Akane said with a shrug. "Where is Ranma, anyway? This is his science project, too."

"He's...busy." Konatsu replied. It was actually true. He and Ryoga were checking out something downtown after Ryoga's computer had a fit. Luna suspected it was Zoisite, so while they were off fighting evil, Konatsu was left behind to help Akane and her other partner with their science project.

"Busy." Akane did not look convinced. Konatsu halted for a second. How the hell was she supposed to explain this? Ranma didn't give her an excuse to use!

"No, really, Ranma and Ryoga are..." Konatsu began, stuttering and mumbling as Akane's gaze bored into her, "...fighting some monkey ninjas!"

Akane blinked, looking at Konatsu in confusion.

"The King came back! Yeah, he...uh...he wanted revenge! Sent a bunch of monkey ninja assassins after Ranma and Ryoga this afternoon!" Konatsu continued to lie through her teeth, briefly wondering what the hell she was talking about as she continued.

"He wanted concubines this time! And since Ranma and Ryoga foiled his plans the first time-" Konatsu went on, only for Akane to perk up in surprise.

"Ranma and Ryoga got turned into girls?" She interrupted in horror. Crap!

"Yeah, but it's okay, because they can use their curses to change back to normal!" Konatsu replied. Good save!

"Ryoga has a Jusenkyo curse?" Akane said, even more horrified. Double crap!

"What I meant to say was, he used Jusenkyo to change them, and cause Ranma already had that curse nothing happened. But Ryoga wasn't as lucky, and now they're after the Monkey Ninja King to get Ryoga cured." Konatsu stammered out as a thoughtful look crossed Akane's face. Yes! That time, she did it!

"So the Monkey Ninja King has a cure for Jusenkyo curses?" SHIT! Konatsu wracked her brain for a response to that one, desperately trying to think of the right answer that would end this horrible questioning.

"...Maybe?" Konatsu replied sheepishly. Akane was about to ask another question, but Konatsu quickly cut her off, "I think I'll let Ranma explain it when he returns."

Akane deflated slightly, still giving Konatsu a look, before sighing and turning back towards the road. Konatsu breathed a sigh of relief, before realizing just what she dropped on Ranma's shoulders.

'He's gonna kill me...' Konatsu chuckled nervously at the thought. They were nearing the high school now, where the third science partner was waiting for their arrival. Konatsu briefly wondered what exactly she would end up doing here when she noticed Akane pulling a strange rock out of her pocket.

"What's that?" Konatsu asked, looking at it curiously. It almost looked like a lump of burnt dirt. Why would Akane put such a thing in her pocket?

"It's a meteor." Akane replied, holding up the rock towards the light of a nearby street lamp, "I saw it land while I was jogging yesterday. Meteors are always good for science projects, right? I figured I'd bring it along."

"Can I see it?" Konatsu asked, holding out her hand towards the space rock. Akane handed it over, and Konatsu held it up to look at it from every angle. Huh. Didn't look much different than a normal rock. As she turned it over again, it suddenly slipped through her fingers, hitting the ground with a thump that promptly broke off a large piece.

"Whoops," Konatsu muttered, noting Akane's look of horror as she bent down to pick up the rock. As she got back to her feet, Konatsu noticed part of the rock felt different and turned it over in her hands, seeing a shock of green under the rocky exterior of the meteor.

"A crystal?" Akane asked, looking over Konatsu's shoulder.

"Maybe its a geode?" Konatsu offered. She'd seen some of those in souvenir shops before. They were basically rocks with crystals inside.

"I don't think there's geodes in space." Akane replied, taking the meteor back and looking at the green crystal inside. "I have to show this to Mikoto."

* * *

Mikoto Hakubi sighed and leaned back in her chair, rubbing her eyes for a few moments. This equation was starting to get on her nerves. If only she could solve this, then her latest invention would be complete, and she'd be well on her way to fame and fortune! Or, hell, world domination if she really wanted. You couldn't go wrong with mad science. But no, try as she might, she couldn't figure out the problem. No matter how much time she spent on trying to redesign the stupid thing.

"Hmm," She hmmed, standing from her chair and moving across the room, where her invention rested on a lab table. It was a huge machine, looking like a generator of some kind, with a large, rectangular block the size of an oil drum on one side, connected to the rest of the machine by a thick shaft and a mass of wires. "Maybe if I cut away some of the Integrated Override Network, I could reduce the energy consumption...but would it be enough?"

"Mikoto!" She turned upon hearing her name, noting with a slight smile that her lab partners had finally arrived. Not that they'd be of any help, of course, since they were only mere students. Not all were graced with her natural talents in science and reason. However, simpletons though they be, having people around to talk at and dictate to made these long work nights less boring.

"Ah, Tendo and Saotome! About time you got here. I was just working on our project." Mikoto began, walking through the walls of various doodads and inventions to meet her fellow students at the door. She stopped as she rounded the next corner, noting the two girls standing just inside her lab with a bit of surprise. She recognized Akane Tendo easily enough, but Ranma Saotome looked really different outside of class...

"Wow, Saotome, you look...different. Did you get a hair cut?" Mikoto said, adjusting her glasses for a moment as she looked at Konatsu. Akane chuckled a bit at the mix up, watching the confusion cross Konatsu's face.

"Ah...no..." Konatsu muttered, not entirely sure what to make of this, "I'm Konatsu. Ranma couldn't make it."

"Oh," Mikoto said simply, nodding at this revelation, "That makes way more sense."

"right..." Konatsu replied, still completely confused. Mikoto just wandered back into the maze of machines and vaguely sciencey looking stuff, back towards whatever it was she had been doing before they came in. Konatsu just followed her, with Akane leading the way, in something of a state of disbelief. She was briefly wondering if she had wandered onto the set of a bad sci-fi film. Half the stuff in the room had various lights on it that seemed to blink for no apparent reason.

"I'm glad you're here, Akane. I was just working on my latest invention. Should work fine as the subject of our project!" Mikoto boasted, leading the two deeper into the lab towards the table with her machine.

"Uh...what is it?" Akane asked, leaning her head to the side to examine the machine at a different angle. "Kinda looks like a big mallet."

"It's a Gravitational Oscillation Load Driver with Integrated Override Network." Mikoto rose one finger and immediately went into lecture mode, "It functions by creating a gravity well in the heart of the generator, producing a custom shockwave that rebounds within the manifold to create the maximum load driving effect."

Akane and Konatsu just stared at her for a few moments.

"Unfortunately, I can't solve the power issue. By my current calculations, it'd take enough energy to power Tokyo for three weeks just to turn it on." She continued, shaking her head in disappointment. Still, Akane and Konatsu stared, caught off guard and rendered speechless.

"It does _what?_" Konatsu finally managed to say.

"Isn't this a little...much? We're just supposed to present a project based on a field of science we're interested in.." Akane stared at Mikoto's machine apprehensively, having no idea what to think of it.

"Right! And what better fields of science are there than Applied Quantum Mechanics and Gravitational Physics?" Mikoto replied, turning towards her machine, "I mean, I suppose we could do advanced robotics, but that's so last year."

"Am I interrupting?" All three teens immediately turned towards the new voice in surprise. Konatsu tensed as she noticed that familiar feminine voice, spotting the blonde general sitting atop a nearby machine.

'Zoisite?' Konatsu thought, cursing her bad luck, 'He's supposed to be on the other side of Tokyo! If he's here, what are Ranma and Ryoga hunting down?'

"Who are you?" Mikoto looked up at the newcomer in curiosity, having never seen her before. Didn't this chick know that sitting on top of computer servers was dangerous? What if she had a static charge on her ugly gray clothes? She could fry some of the circuits!

"Stay back, he's dangerous!" Konatsu warned, standing in front of the two girls protectively. She couldn't transform, not with them watching, but she was still a capable ninja.

"That's a guy?" Mikoto asked incredulously, adjusting her glasses as she gave Zoisite a long look. "If you say so."

"And I thought you were supposed to be the smartest of the Seven Monsters, Hakese." Zoisite replied with an amused laugh, floating down from the machine he had perched on with the Black Crystal in hand. "Now, be a good monster and stand still."

"Monster?" Mikoto muttered in confusion as Zoisite leveled the crystal towards her. Konatsu rushed forward in a blur of movement, drawing a blade from her sleeve and striking towards the dark general's neck with lethal intent. Zoisite gasped and floated back, away from the attack, only for Konatsu to push her attack with a second strike.

"Zoi!" A massive beam of energy met Konatsu head on for her troubles, blasting her off course and smashing her through several stacks of equipment before the beam carried her straight through the far wall and into the school yard beyond it. The general smirked at the large hole he carved through the room, glad to be rid of the ninja girl. She had been getting on his nerves since he came in.

"Konatsu!" Akane cried out in surprise, moving towards the hole to ensure the ninja was okay. Zoisite vanished from his position, appearing between Akane and her goal and slapping her across the face with enough force to hurl the girl into a nearby terminal.

"Sit down, little girl. You're being a nuisance." Zoisite watched Akane slump to the ground happily, turning his attention back towards his target. She was now kneeling on the ground with her hands over her mouth, tears threatening to spill from her eyes as she watched.

"Why are you doing this? You monster!" Mikoto cried out, her voice hoarse with emotion. Zoisite simply laughed again, covering his mouth demurely as he did.

"You misunderstand. You're the only monster here." Zoisite began, raising the crystal once more as he approached the girl. "Haven't you ever noticed that you're different from other humans? You're not like them. You've always been better than them, and you owe it all to your heritage. Your talents are just a remnant of your true nature. You are one of the Seven Monsters reborn. You exist solely to do our master's bidding, to bring pain and suffering to humans everywhere. You are a blight on the face of the galaxy. You are Hakese."

"Wha? That-" Mikoto stammered, staring at Zoisite in horror. That couldn't be true. She was gifted with an incredible insight into the study of science, but that's nothing unusual, is it? So she was smarter than her teachers. That didn't mean anything. And so what if half the stuff she invented in her spare time pushed the boundaries of technology? That just meant she was gifted...right?

"You're lying!" Mikoto insisted, scooting away from Zoisite on her hands and shaking her head in denial. It couldn't be true. She wasn't some monster. Her talents didn't come from some horrible heritage like that!

Zoisite just laughed at her again, pointing the Black Crystal at her chest. Seeing it felt strangely like looking down the barrel of a gun, as if her fate were in this man's fingertips. "Silly girl. I have every intention of proving it."

"Stay away from her!" Akane shouted, struggling back to her feet. Zoisite barely spared her a glance, instead activating the crystal in his hands and bathing Mikoto in strange yellow light. Mikoto started screaming as her body suddenly went rigid, eyes wide in horror as she cried out as loudly as her lungs allowed. She felt a hollowness opening up inside her, like something vitally important was being carved out of her soul with a pair of rusty knives. A blue crystal appeared in front of her eyes and seemed to glimmer before it flew into her tormentor's open hand. His attack was over, but the pain didn't fade. It only became much worse.

"Mikoto!" Akane screamed, rushing to her friend's side. Mikoto was hunched over herself, her breathing ragged as she clutched at her chest, trying desperately to keep the hole inside her closed.

"A...kane..." She gasped out through the tears, still clutching at her heart. "It hurts...Something's trying to come out..."

Zoisite began to laugh again, but cut himself off as he felt the rage filled eyes of Akane fall on him. Something about the girl unnerved him greatly. He didn't much care for the way she was staring at him, either.

"What did you take from her?" Akane demanded, rising to her feet and rushing at Zoisite in determination. "Give it back!"

She punched with all her might, her fist smashing into Zoisite's face with the force of a battering ram. Zoisite took off at high speed, smashing through the opposite wall before he finally corrected himself in the air.

"The nerve! How dare you mar my beautiful face, you devil woman!" Zoisite growled out, surprised and outraged that the girl had managed to hit him. He rose his hand towards her, fully intent on destroying her in a single blast.

"Give-" Akane began, reaching out towards the nearest thing she could grab, her hand firmly grasping the shaft section of Mikoto's newest machine, "-It-" She yanked it from the table, holding it above her head like a club as she rushed towards the hole she just put in the wall. A glimmer of green light shined from her pocket, from the meteor within, as the machine in her hands began to hum, "-BACK!"

Zoisite fired his blast, sending a beam of magical energy towards the charging girl that should have blown her away. Akane met it head on with her makeshift cudgel, the machine now shining with a golden light that seemed to be spreading to Akane herself. On impact, the beam just seemed to disintegrate, Akane charging straight through it as particles of light cascaded around her from where her weapon met the attack. Zoisite could only watch in horror as Akane leapt from the hole in the wall, this strange machine now held overhead, preparing to bring it down on him with full force.

He had the good sense to dodge, but only just. There was a horrible flash of light as Akane's weapon struck the ground just outside the classroom, the entire area rumbling horribly from the impact. Konatsu felt the force of the shockwave roll over her as she tried to regain her own footing, very glad that Zoisite had launched her far enough away to avoid this attack. As the light cleared, Akane found herself standing in a smoking hole deeper than she was tall, grasping the strange machine with her bloody fingers. Her clothes were shredded, her body bruised, and her arms were screaming in pain, but she had missed. Zoisite floated overhead, looking down at this crater with a face gone white with terror.

"Give...it...back..." Akane muttered, struggling to lift the machine again. Zoisite flinched and quickly teleported away, not willing to risk a second shot.

"No!" Akane's arms failed her as the machine hit the ground again, the hole deepening even more with another flash of light. She collapsed shortly after, the light in her pocket dying out, followed by the machine powering down. Konatsu watched this in amazement, looking down from the lip of the crater at Akane's unconscious body.

So _that's_ what that thing does.

"A...ka...ne...?" Mikoto gasped out, watching the brief fight draw to a close in surprise. She didn't have much time to think about it, however. Pain tore through her body again as she lost her hold of herself, the room filling with a blue light that seemed to be pouring out of her body. She let out a final cry as her body flashed, and she was no more.

"Oh...crap..." Konatsu muttered, watching as the new Youma rose to her feet, the white lab coat she was covered in billowing around her. Her bright blue skin clashed with the shock of red hair that now adorned her head, and her eyes glowed with a strange energy as she looked at Konatsu.

"Oh ho? And what might you be?" Hakese asked with a mischievous grin, studying Konatsu intently.

"Mars Power, Make Up!" Was Konatsu's reply. As the transformation overtook her, a translucent screen appeared over Hakese's eyes, data streaming across it at high speed.

"Ah! A Parallel Pattern overlay spell? Fascinating!" Hakese announced with glee. A translucent keyboard appeared over her right arm as she watched, tapping at it madly with her left hand. Sailor Mars landed, her transformation complete, and stood at the ready.

"Sailor Senshi? Very good data, indeed! I've never been able to study the transformation up close!" Hakese declared, still typing furiously while watching Mars through her holographic screen. Warning lights suddenly flashed across her screen, giving her pause as new data streamed by.

"A charge?" She muttered, focusing past the data to see Mars was standing with her hands together, fire collecting at her fingertips. Hakese frowned, tapping at her keyboard some more.

"Fire Soul!" Mars shouted and unleashed her spell, flames burning through the air towards her target. Hakese stopped typing for a moment and threw out her hands towards the approaching flames, a sudden blast of energy quenching Mars' attack instantly before slamming into her head on, hurling her through the wall and into the hallway beyond.

"So rude! Don't interrupt me when I'm working!" She scolded, floating through the new hole in the wall as she resumed her typing. Mars groaned, getting back to her feet slowly. It was bad enough when Zoisite blasted her, but this was becoming ridiculous. At least the transformation dulled the damage of that attack, though it did little to help the pain of getting shoved through a wall.

"I guess I'll have to punish you for that." Hakese announced, her typing getting faster and her frown getting deeper. A green flash appeared on her screen then, causing both it and the keyboard to vanish.

"So that's it!" She declared, landing smoothly in the hall as a strange translucent gauntlet seemed to appear over her right arm. She suddenly rushed forward, striking out at Mars with a viscous left hook. Mars ducked the punch and rose with one of her own, striking towards Hakese's throat with a knife hand.

That collided with a barrier inches before contact.

"What?" Mars gasped in shock. Hakese just grinned, exploiting Mars' temporary shock to grab the red broach on her chest.

"Grab the core, and..." Hakese muttered, the holographic gauntlet moving frantically over the broach, "...Terminate Program!"

Konatsu gasped as her uniform suddenly degenerated, momentarily becoming ribbons of fire before it simply winked out of existence. She stumbled back from the youma in shock, once again in her normal clothes. How...how did she do that?

"So much for the Sailor Senshi. It's all so obvious now." Hakese stated simply before letting lose another blast. Konatsu tried and failed to brace herself against the attack, the force tearing her from her feet and sending her flying down the hall with a cry of pain. She landed in a lump, rolling limply a few times before coming to a stop. Konatsu groaned as she slowly pushed herself up, looking up towards her attacker through blurring vision.

'Damn it...she's too strong...' Konatsu reached into her pocket and pulled out her communicator, knowing she had no choice but to call in reinforcements. She would have to remember to thank Luna later for giving them these. As she turned it on, Hakese's screen came back to life, with more data streaming across it that caught the Youma's eye.

"Guys, there's a Youma at Furin-" Before Konatsu could finish, the communicator suddenly died. Konatsu just stared at it for a few moments before looking up at the Youma, seeing her typing once more.

"Transmission Ended! Now now, none of that. It's no fun if you call for help." Hakese said, waving her finger back and forth in a steady motion. Konatsu almost felt like crying. It wasn't fair! How was she supposed to fight it if it kept canceling everything she did?

"Damn you!" Konatsu cursed, forcing herself to stand as she glared at the Youma. She may not have her magic, but she was still a ninja. Barrier or no, Konatsu had every intention of beating this Youma down the hard way, drawing a short dagger from her sleeve to emphasize her point.

Hakese laughed maniacally, her screen and keyboard disappearing once more.

"I have a hypothesis that girls who become Senshi gain an exceptional level of pain resistance in their normal forms." Hakese began, energy crackling in her hand as she formed a blade of brilliant orange energy. "Let's experiment, shall we?"

Konatsu was off like a shot, her dagger held tightly in her hand as she approached. Hakese grinned, holding her own blade ready. Konatsu lashed out in a diagonal slice towards Hakese's mid-section, only for her blade to hit the very same barrier her hand had struck before. Hakese counter attacked, swinging her sword down in an overhead slash that Konatsu nimbly sidestepped, going through her guard and dragging her blade across the youma's kidney's without success, halted by the barrier once again.

'Shit, how do I pierce that thing?' Konatsu twisted and gave herself some space, pausing for a moment to see how her opponent would react. Hakese merely stood her ground, apparently perfectly happy to have Konatsu come to her. For her part, the kunoichi shifted her hold on her dagger, holding the blade straight out in preparation for a thrust.

"Come on. We'll never get any data if you stand over there all day." Hakese taunted. Konatsu dashed forward once more, though this time Hakese was the first to strike, lashing out in a wide sweep with her weapon. Konatsu expected this, vaulting over the attack to descend on Hakese from above, thrusting her blade down at the Youma's head with both hands. The barrier came back in full force, stopping the blade in its tracks. Gravity was persistent however, and Konatsu was putting all her weight into the blade.

"Nice try!" Hakese taunted, slashing Konatsu across the body with her blade. Electric fire seemed to race across her nerves from the contact, inciting a pain unlike anything she had felt before. Konatsu screamed in agony, her strength gone, forced back by the barrier to land harshly on her side.

"On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate the pain you just felt?" Hakese asked, her keyboard appearing once more. Konatsu struggled back to her feet, standing on pure will power alone as she stared the youma down, her blade still clutched tightly in one hand.

"Oh, you're standing already? I'll call that a 6, then." The Youma remarked, typing at her keyboard for a moment before returning her grip to her sword, the blade becoming several times larger and now crackling with energy. "Let's see if we can hit 10."

Konatsu simply didn't have the strength to resist. Hakese was on her too fast, bringing down the blade with speed she simply couldn't match in her condition. The blade connected, and Konatsu had to redefine her understanding of pain. Sounds she barely recognized as her own voice erupted from her throat as she cried out in absolute anguish, energy coursing through her body so violently she could see flashes of it behind her eyes, feeling it burn so deep that it scarred her bones. Smoke rose from her abused body as Hakese removed her weapon, watching Konatsu slump to the ground like a marionette without a master.

"Now, let's try this again. On a scale of one to ten." Hakese spoke, but Konatsu didn't hear her. Her world had gone deathly silent. Her eyes gazed out unblinkingly, caught in the reflection of the dagger that now sat loosely in her fingers a few inches from her face. The rest of the world seemed to fade away, except for that dagger, except for that reflection. Her eyes looked hollow, gazing at her with an emptiness that seemed unnatural. Darkness was creeping in from the edges of her vision, now, like an acid eating away at a piece of weakened steel.

'Is this it? Is this all you have to offer?' She thought to herself, her eyes still staring into the reflection on the blade. Any sense of the outside was gone. The hall, the Youma, everything. If it still existed, she couldn't tell. All that remained was the blade.

'Is this your best?' She continued to chastise herself, staring into her own reflection. 'Are you really through?'

'She's too strong. I can't break her barrier. It's pointless.' Konatsu stared into her own reflection and it seemed to stare back. Her face changed, disappointment clear on her features. The darkness continued to edge in, her view of the world slowly becoming tunneled.

'You're pathetic. All that heat, and your fire is nothing more than a candle in the end. Is it so easy to snuff out your light?' Her reflection seemed to ask. Konatsu just stared at it, her vision becoming unfocused as it tunneled further.

'Yes.' she answered herself, feeling ashamed of her own weakness. Her world faded to black, the last thing she saw being her own eyes staring into her blankly.

'Then perhaps its time you fought in the darkness.' The world came back suddenly in stunning clarity, her fingers clenched tightly around the handle of her dagger, her eyes regaining their focus. She could feel something rising inside of her now, giving her a second wind. She had never felt it before, but it still felt oddly familiar, much like the Senshi transformation had when she first used it. This was a different kind of power, however. This was dark. This was deadly.

"Huh?" Hakese muttered as new data streamed across her screen. Something massive was building, something she was having difficulty identifying. What was going on? Where was this coming from? She glanced down, seeing Konatsu staring up at her with intense eyes. Hakese took an unconscious step back from the glare, unnerved by those eyes.

"This data...this doesn't make any sense!" Hakese shouted, suddenly recognizing the energy signature Konatsu was giving off. Konatsu was on her feet now, her hand still tightly clenched around her dagger as she brought it up. The blade was changing now, falling slightly as it seemed to fade into darkness, wisps like smoke rising from the edge of the now pitch black blade. Hakese took several more steps back, her screen still flashing warnings across her eyes.

"How can you possibly have that artifact? How is it you have The Dagger!" The Youma demanded. Konatsu did not reply, twisting the blade in her hand before rushing forward, leaving behind a trail like black smoke from where it passed.

"Dancing..." Konatsu started, bringing the dagger to bear. Hakese growled, thrusting her hand forward with a blast of energy. It shredded the walls, floor and ceiling as it passed, filling the entire hall with no hope of escape, striking Konatsu head on. On impact, Konatsu's body seemed to be blown away in a puff of smoke, leaving nothing behind but the blackness.

"...Shadow..." Hakese turned in surprise at the voice, seeing Konatsu coming at her from behind, blade still trailing blackness. The youma rose her arms in defense, her barrier shining to full power around her, "...Slash!"

It was over in an instant. Konatsu slowly rose to her feet, looking over her shoulder at the path of black energy that arced through the air where she had struck. Hakese's barrier collapsed, the Youma herself hitting the ground on her knees with a coughing choke. The black energy seemed to be retracting now, from all over the halls, everywhere Konatsu dragged it. It flowed steadily into the Youma's body, gathering in a single spot, a shallow cut across her torso that now radiated that same total blackness.

"No...please...have mercy..." The youma gasped out, looking at Konatsu through pained eyes as the Kunoichi fully turned around, now holding the black blade in one hand and its sheath in the other.

"Burst." Konatsu replied, sheathing the blade. The Youma cried out in pain as the wound exploded violently, the black energy tearing through its body in an instant before fading away. Hakese collapsed without another sound, and Konatsu released a breath she didn't realize she was holding.

"What was that..." Konatsu muttered, grabbing her head for a second and stumbling slightly before drawing her dagger. The blade was normal again, a polished steel. The darkness had left its surface. "How did I do that?"

"Konatsu!" Konatsu turned at the voice, seeing Sailor Mercury and Moon standing in the hall, the latter cradling Akane in her arms. Looks of confusion, anger and worry played across both their faces as they approached, but mostly they just looked like they needed answers.

"What the hell happened here?" Moon demanded, still holding Akane tightly. She looked down, seeing the fallen Youma behind Konatsu for the first time and quickly got closer. She looked practically dead. "What did you do?"

"I...have no idea." Was all she could say in reply, looking down at the Youma she had somehow beaten. That spell she had cast...and without transforming, too...where the hell did that come from?

"You better heal her, Ranma. I think she might be dying." Konatsu insisted. Sailor Moon just nodded, gently laying Akane down near the Youma before drawing her wand.

"Will that heal Akane, too?" Mercury asked, looking down at the girl in worry. She felt so ashamed of herself. She should have been here to protect Akane!

"I don't know," Moon replied, holding the wand overhead, "But I sure hope it does. Moon Healing, Escalation!"

* * *

Kunzite slowly made his way across the chamber, clutching the White Crystal in hand as he went. Herb had been a dead end. He regretted going to him first, now, especially since that damnable Sailor Venus had shown up. However, what was done was done. Herb wasn't the only powerful human in the area, and there was still time before his plan came to fruition. Zoisite was sowing the first seeds even now, but they were still missing a critical trump card.

"Who are you? How dare you trespass here!" A young voice rang out, drawing Kunzite's attention towards the center of the room, where his target now stood and glared at him with indignation.

"Pardon my rudeness, your highness, but I am here to strike a bargain with you." Kunzite replied, bowing slightly to the boy. He could see he had his attention. Now he just had to draw him in.

"What kind of bargain? Speak, landling! This better not be a waste of my time!" The boy shouted, losing his patience already. Kunzite just smirked as he rose from his bow.

"I can offer you what no one else can. You have resurrected yourself a thousand times over, but every time you have started anew with a clean slate. I can undo that. I can give you the power of all your former incarnations." Kunzite explained. The boy's eyebrows raised, his interest peaked. The dark general could already see the gears moving in his mind, realizing the potential of what he offered. It was almost too easy.

"That's quite the offer, sorcerer. And what do you get in return?" He asked, giving Kunzite a suspicious stare.

"My masters will soon conquer this world. What I am offering is an alliance, and a chance to stake your own claim. If you swear your allegiance to Queen Beryl, and offer your people to bolster our forces, I will grant you all the power of the phoenix in return. All the power that is rightfully yours." Kunzite replied. He could see in the boy's eyes that he didn't like the idea of an allegiance, that bowing to another disgusted him, but the promise of power was simply too great. Already he knew the idea of that much power was eating away at the boy's mind. All he would have to do is wait a few moments. The boy was too impatient to hold out for long. In a few moments, he'd even sell his soul for a chance at that power.

"Alright," Saffron said, an evil grin crossing his face, "If you can really do as you say, you've got a deal."

* * *

To be Continued.

Author's Notes:

And there it is. If the Kasumi bit confused you, I apologize. Introducing that appropriately was the main reason I've been stuck on this chapter for two years. If I over-explained it, then the surprise would be ruined. But under-explaining it makes it kinda come out of nowhere. So I chose what I felt was the lesser of two evils and ran with it, skipping a lot of the foreshadowing for that development. Though if you know who Rushuna Tendo is, you probably saw it coming.

Now that I got this chapter out of the way, the next one should be a lot sooner. Sometime this year, at least.

Ryo-Wolf


	10. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma, though I'd figure that'd be a given. I also don't own Sailor moon, though if you thought I did you have mental problems. As for the many other series I've crossed with, I don't own those either.

Author's Notes:

I'm a terrible, terrible person. I know. I said it'd be by the end of the year. Over a year later, I'm finally updating. On the plus side, this is the longest chapter yet. But still, over a year! This yearly update shit has got to stop. I'll never finish this fic at this rate.

So if any of you out there would like to see more frequent updates and think you can help, I'm open to having beta-readers, editors, consultants or co-writers, if you're up to the task. JSB has already kindly jumped on board, and is the primary reason this chapter was finished.

I'd also like to thank Archaia Fengari, who offered to bribe me with Fanart to write a new chapter. It was a big help for my inspiration, so for those of you who think I write too slowly, never forget that I accept bribes.

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

It was a cold, mid December morning that greeted him that day as he looked out over the apartment complex. The air seemed to move almost lazily, slowed by the chill that gave it that strange texture that was so common in the winter months, like a thickening of the lungs as you breathed it in. He was never one to notice the cold, however. It was something he was accustomed to, something he welcomed. He always felt more at ease in the chill of winter than during the hotter summer months. As he breathed in that crisp air, he couldn't help but feel optimistic. December was a good month.

"On the lookout for Panties Girl, eh?" A voice from behind him spoke up, breaking him out of his peaceful thoughts.

"Shut up, Albert! I was just trying to enjoy some fresh air." He chastised his brother, turning away from the railing to glare at the younger boy. Albert rolled his eyes, a grin on his face as he jumped up on the railing and pointed towards the ground floor.

"Right, just enjoying the fresh air while staking out the mailboxes. Makes sense." Albert replied sarcastically. He leaned over the edge, pushing his weight forward and gripping his perch precariously by the tips of his fingers in such a way that it immediately brought to mind images of his brother falling to the cement below, flying head over foot in an uncontrolled tumble that would, at the very least, end with blood and screaming, and at the worst, only blood. Admittedly, he couldn't help but feel the former would be deserving, and almost worth watching, but the possibility of the latter is what made him reach out and pull the younger boy back to safety.

"Quit being an idiot. You're gonna crack your head open." He chastised, smacking Albert upside the head with the same hand he used to pull him back.

"Don't change the subject. I know you watched her leave from the window. You wanna be out here when she gets back, admit it." He ignored Albert's accusations, turning away as the boy once again jumped up on the railing. As if on cue, a dark haired woman came into view, running around the corner and into the entryway proper, slowing to a light jog as she went about checking her mail. Albert grinned as he pointed her out.

"Hey, there she is now. Aren't ya gonna go talk to her?" Albert asked, only to be disappointed at the unsure look that had crossed his face.

"I told you, I'm not out here waiting for her." He began, trying to drop the subject as he turned his gaze towards the ground floor. His eyes were uncontrollably drawn to her as she collected what little mail she had received, to the way she continued to jog in place as she did so, and the way this inevitably made her breasts move. He was also incredibly conscious of his brother's eyes staring at him, obviously not believing what he had said.

"Besides, I wouldn't know what to say," He continued, turning back towards Albert, "I mean, we probably have nothing in common, and we only met yesterday, briefly, so what am I supposed to say about that? I don't know her name, she doesn't know mine, and I saw her in her underwear, which was obviously embarrassing for her, so do I just ignore that, or-"

Albert smacked him upside the head before he could ramble any further.

"You think too much, Chrono. Stop it. Quit being such a wuss and just talk to her, already. Say 'hi.' You can't go wrong with 'hi.'" Albert coached, just as the girl in question reached the top of the stairs and headed their way. Chrono froze up, unable to say a word as she walked by without even looking at the two of them, despite the numerous jabs Albert gave his ribs to convince him to speak up. As her door slammed behind her, they just sat in silence for a moment. Chrono couldn't even register what had just happened, while Albert sighed in a combination of disappointment and pity.

"Smooth, bro. She was all over you. You're a real lady killer. Practically had to beat her off with a stick." Albert said sarcastically, breaking the awkward silence. Chrono simply released a breath he didn't realize he had been holding, putting his head in his hands with a sigh as he turned back towards the railing.

It was still a cold, mid December morning that greeted him as he looked out over the apartment complex, and as he took a breath of that frigid air, he couldn't help but feel depressed. December sucked.

(-)(-)

Ryu collected her breath as she shut the door behind her, wiping the sweat from her brow angrily and clenching her gathered mail in a tight fist. Her frustration was palpable, clear from the look on her face and from the way all her actions held more power than was entirely necessary. She slammed doors behind her as she crossed her apartment, her footsteps heavy against the floor as she moved to her room and tossed the crumpled mail angrily on her bed. She was still trying to regain her breath as she pulled off her sweat stained shirt, leaving her in her sports bra as she collapsed to a nearby chair.

"Twenty miles, huh?" She mused with a sigh, leaning back in her seat as her breathing slowed. All her life, Ryu had pushed her limits. It was a necessity of her lifestyle to strive for more, to become better and better, the strongest she could possibly be. How much sweat had she shed in her life to attain physical perfection? How much blood? So much effort, every day, and it showed in her every action. Before, her body had been like finely cut stone, and just as sturdy. She could work for days on end with minimal rest if need be, and the last time she had tried, she ran fifty miles without slowing down.

"Twenty miles..." She muttered again as a bead of sweat followed the curve of her face. She clenched her fist and slammed it against the wall beside her, sending cracks through the concrete as bits of dust fell from the new dent. She was somewhat satisfied that she had at least accomplished that much, but still felt weaker than she had in years. She pushed herself to her limits today, ran as hard as she could, as far as she could, and she hadn't even hit the halfway mark before she started slowing down. Her body had weakened so much, in so little time. Was this really the difference between men and women? If she could face her male self in battle right now, would she even stand a chance?

That thought stuck with her as she sat silently in her room, staring at the pile of crumpled mail on her bed. As the sweat and grime from her workout dried against her skin, her mind continued again and again to the subject of her former self. She had been so proud of her own power, so proud of the strength of her body, and now she was losing it all. Her hands clenched into tight, white knuckled fists as her train of thought continued down a path of negativity. The air around her shifted and started to heat up as Ryu's body began to glow, gritting her teeth as her hair seemed to move in an absent breeze. With a burst of chi that sent vibrations through the chair into the floor, Ryu fully manifested her Yamasenken Aura, growling out in anger as she stood up and lashed out.

The wall before her simply vanished in a cloud of dust and debris with a cacophonous shattering of glass, wood, ceramic and concrete. Water sprayed uncontrollably into the air from broken pipes, dragging the debris cloud down with moisture as Ryu's bathroom came into view through the new hole. As she settled down and began to collect herself, she quickly crushed the water pipe to stop the spray before stepping back a few feet, annoyed by her choice in targets. How was she supposed to shower now?

With that thought in mind, her eyes drifted back towards the pile of mail, seeing the larger folder that had been sent from Furinkan High. Right, she had signed up for that dumb school in order to keep tabs on Ranma's stupid monster hunter group. She was supposed to start today.

Schools had PE showers, didn't they? She'd just have to use one of them. Furinkan was at least 10 miles away from her apartment, though, and she was still winded from her earlier run.

She abandoned that thought as quickly as it hit her. Screw her weaknesses. She was going to run all the way to Furinkan even if her legs broke in the process. She wasn't gonna let this beat her. She'd get her former strength back, no matter the cost.

"To Furinkan, then." She muttered, going to her closet to get a change of clothes.

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

Ranma twisted through the air, his breath visible in large puffs as his legs sliced through the wind in vicious arcs. His foot touched the ground as he twisted again, lashing out with several more arcing kicks before falling into a sweep that cut a swath in the grass. He returned to a standing position in the same spinning motion, the air moving in tight circles around him as he settled himself and calmed his breathing. He turned briefly to regard his father, who was doing some kind of exercise in his panda form, before heading inside. His father had been acting odd for weeks now, having stopped their morning spars to instead run around on all fours. He couldn't figure it out, but he wasn't going to let his father's disinterest keep him from practicing in the morning.

"...Combatants Act does nothing to alleviate this tension. It's a grave oversight that must be addressed." The TV was on in the next room, far louder than it needed to be. Ranma could easily pick up the discussion taking place as soon as he walked in the house. He glanced into the living room, spotting Nabiki lounging on the couch with the remote in hand.

"What are you suggesting, Representative Yamiuchi?" "I'm suggesting that these so called 'Combatants' are a menace to society, and the Diet's response has simply been to look away."

"Jeez, Nabiki, can't you turn it down?" Ranma shouted into the room, earning a casual glance from the Tendo girl before she looked back to the TV. He didn't understand what was so enthralling about it; looked like some boring political stuff.

"...and riots in the street before you know it." "But aren't the police called in those situations?" "The police are powerless, that's what I've been trying to say! That's the entire reason behind the self-moderation clause of the act. Just a few weeks ago, an entire police swat team was decimated by a single Martial Combatant. Most of these men had to be hospitalized, and the perpetrator is still on the loose!"

"You might wanna pay attention to this, Ranma. This kinda concerns you." Nabiki replied, still watching the two men in suits arguing on the TV. Ranma just waved his hand dismissively as he tuned it out, heading into the kitchen. There was no sign of Kasumi anywhere, much to his dismay. All he could find in the kitchen was a simple note stuck to the refrigerator, declaring that she was out shopping with her aunt and that breakfast will be late today.

Ranma's stomach grumbled as he frowned at the note, opening the fridge to find it painfully bare. the pantries followed, as well as every cupboard and cabinet he could get his hands on, in search of something edible. Unfortunately, the best he had come across was some canned fish stashed near the sink, eying it suspiciously as he looked for an expiration date.

"Hmm...still good. I guess its better than nothing." Ranma muttered, pulling the top off and taking a bite as he turned, spotting Luna sitting on the counter behind him. She was staring up at him in horror, her eyes locked on the small tin in his hands, tears streaming down her face.

"What's wrong with you?" Ranma asked in confusion, taking another bite of fish. This only seemed to make Luna cry more.

"How could you? That's my food! Stop eating my food!" Luna insisted, standing on her hind legs and pointing at Ranma angrily with her paws.

"First you never feed me, now you're even eating my food in front of me? You're too cruel, Ranma!" She complained. Ranma rolled his eyes as he turned back to the cabinet, pulling another tin of fish out and pulling it open before tossing it onto the counter next to Luna. She eagerly began eating it up, standing over it protectively to keep Ranma away from it. He just shook his head, continuing to eat his own as he walked out of the kitchen.

"..at Furinkan High!"

Ranma stopped as the TV finally caught his attention, turning towards it in confusion. Why were they talking about Furinkan High?

"Are you talking about the gas explosion that was recently reported at a high school in your district, Representative?" "That was no gas explosion. It was yet another example of Combatants running amok. That school has long been plagued by Martial Combatants. I'll have you know a known Combatant was hospitalized after the incident. It's a clear indication of fault."

"What? Akane had nothing to do with that!" Ranma shouted angrily, throwing his canned food across the room with enough force to embed it in one of the walls.

"Care to explain why my little sister has been at Tofu's for the last few days, then?" Nabiki asked. Ranma briefly met her eyes, seeing her accusing look, before storming out of the house.

"I'm going to school." He announced, closing the door behind him hard enough to shake the entryway, his mood darkening.

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

Akane groaned as she woke up in the small hospital bed, the dull sensations of pain across her entire body reminding her once again of her current condition. She grabbed at the controls of the bed to incline, wincing slightly as she was forced to sit up in the process. Glancing around the small clinic area, she looked up at the sunlight streaming in through the open window, before looking about for any sign of Tofu in the area. She wrapped her blankets around her a bit tighter to keep out the chill as she let out a sigh, leaning back and staring at the ceiling to collect her thoughts.

She still couldn't really remember what had happened. She vaguely recalled being angry at something. She... couldn't remember why. She just knew she was filled with rage, and then there was the explosion...and then she woke up at Tofu's clinic. According to the doctor himself, Ranma had brought her here after some kind of explosion at school, but since then, she hadn't seen hide or hair of the pigtailed boy. She strongly suspected he was using her hospitalization to avoid her.

"Stupid Ranma, When I get better, I'll show him to ignore me all week." Akane muttered, wincing a little at some of the pain running up her side. She heard a knocking from the doorway, and looked over to see her friend and science partner standing with a bouquet of flowers.

"Oh, Mikoto," Akane greeted her guest, smiling slightly. It seemed the other girl had brought her some flowers, that was nice. It was more than Ranma ever did for her.

"Hi... Akane." Mikoto said, pausing, "Um...How are you feeling?" she asked, staring at the bouquet in her hands in favor of looking at Akane.

"I'm fine, a few pains here or there, but I'll be out of here in no time!" Akane bragged, lifting her arms and flexing her muscles to emphasize her point, only to let them drop immediately after with a wince. It was far too early for her to attempt that again. The pain was almost unbearable.

"I... see." Mikoto forced a smile, seeing the obvious pain the other girl was in. Her thoughts drifted towards the accident as she continued to stare at the flowers in her hands. It took her several moments to realize what they were, and remember why she was holding them.

"Oh, right. These are for you." She said, offering them to Akane. She realized quickly that Akane wouldn't have anything better to do with them than she did. Flowers needed a vase. Why would Akane have a vase here? She was so stupid, she should have brought her own vase. She wasn't used to stupid pleasantries like this. How the hell were people supposed to keep track of all these social rules?

"I'll just...put them down over here..." She added, finally, putting the flowers on the nearby table. One fell out of the bunch and rolled to the floor. She didn't dare acknowledge it.

"Thanks, Mikoto." Akane replied, glancing briefly at the flowers before looking towards the girl. "I wasn't expecting you to come by."

"Felt like I should, considering..." Mikoto began, trailing off as she noticed the confused look on Akane's face.

"Considering what?" Akane asked, unsure what Mikoto was getting at. The redhaired girl didn't really know how to respond. Did Akane not remember what had happened? How her machine had reacted to her and caused her injuries?

"Do you...not remember what happened?" Mikoto asked, needing clarification. Akane just shook her head, leaning back in her bed a bit.

"They told me there was some kind of an explosion. I just remember walking to school and then..." Akane trailed off, a thought suddenly coming to her. "Oh, right! There was something I wanted to show you."

"Huh?" Mikoto muttered, her train of thought totally lost on that. "What do you mean?"

"It's in my clothes pocket, over on that chair. Its a meteorite I found." Akane explained as Mikoto reached into the pockets, pulling out a small, green hexagonal crystal. What was this, a piece of cut emerald? No, this thing would be worth a fortune if it was. Maybe a jade then? Wait a second, meteorite?

"This is a meteorite? It's a crystal." Mikoto announced, holding it up and looking at it in the light. That's odd, it almost looked like there were some kind of structures in the middle of it. like thin lines or cracks...

"I guess the rest of the outer shell came off, but yeah, I saw it fall from space and everything." Akane replied, watching Mikoto closely examine the stone.

"Space, huh?" Mikoto muttered. Not a chance this thing came from space. It was a cut stone, like from a jeweler. Even if it were possible for crystals to form on asteroids and fall to earth, they wouldn't look like this. "More like an airplane or something. Just cause it came from the sky doesn't mean it's from outer space."

"Don't ruin my dreams, Mikoto." Akane pouted, turning her head. "Finding a meteorite is much cooler than finding some gem that fell from some airplane." The girl would have crossed her arms, but that would also bring wrathful and unnecessary pain upon her.

"Sorry, Tendo, it's just a fancy gem. Maybe you can pawn it." Mikoto replied, tossing the stone to Akane. She reflexively caught it, as the stone suddenly shined brightly with a brief, high pitched sound, much to the two girls' surprise.

"What the hell was-" Before Mikoto could fully voice her confusion, however, they hard the door of the clinic opening again, drawing both of their attention as Yuka and Sayuri came in the room.

"Hey Akane! How's the recovery going?" Yuka asked as both she and Sayuri walked up to the bed, both of them noticing the peculiar gem in Akane's hands. "What do you have there Akane? A gift from Ranma?"

"Like that jerk would ever give me anything. He hasn't even come to visit me yet!" Akane denied, her hands tightening around the gem.

"Hey, hey. No need to get angry," Sayuri said, attempting to calm her down. "It was only a joke. So how are you feeling Akane?" The injured girl sighed to her self, breathing in deeply before answering.

"I'm feeling better, I guess. I'm still in no shape to go to school. Or even move around much," she said, looking up to her friends.

"Consider it a blessing. No school, no work, and no Kuno of any type." Yuka commented, earning a chuckle from the girls.

"Yeah, but I'll still have to do the work. And Kuno might come here. That's even worse." Akane sighed. This totally sucked. Why did she have to get caught in some explosion?

"That's true." Sayuri agreed, nodding her head. "How about Yuka and I bring you your homework so you can get started on it early? Sound good?"

"That would be great," Akane said, smiling.

"And if Mikoto comes as well, she can help us all get it done!" Yuka cheered, looking expectantly at the mad scientist. The girl in question looked around at the three excited faces, and sighed. She probably wouldn't be able to come up with a good excuse anyway.

"Sure, why not. We're friends right?" She muttered, much to the joy of the two perkier girls.

"Now then, time to spill! You guys met the Senshi, didn't you!" Yuka suddenly said, looking between the two girls with jealousy.

"Huh?" Akane muttered, not really understanding, while Mikoto bit her lip.

"Yeah, we heard all about it on the news this morning! They've been saying the Senshi were at Furinkan the other night. That's why there was an explosion!" Sayuri chimed in, equally envious.

"You guys were both right there when it all happened, you must have seen them in action! So come on, spill!" Yuka continued, clearly upset for having missed out.

"I don't remember what happened at all...Wait, you were there during the explosion, Mikoto?" Akane asked. Suddenly all three pairs of eyes were on the bespectacled girl, much to her chagrin as she involuntarily took a step back.

"Hey, why are you all looking at me?" Mikoto put up her hands defensively as all three girls looked towards her with interest. Truth be told, Mikoto remembered that night all too well, everything from the strange man that attacked her, to the things he said, and the way she...

"It was just a regular old, every day lab explosion! Happens all the time!" Mikoto insisted. She'd rather not think about what happened that night.

"Liar! You totally saw something! Come on, don't hold out on us! We're in the Sailor Senshi Fan Club, we _have_ to know!" Yuka demanded, quickly crossing the room to get the truth out of the redheaded girl.

"Hey, stay away! Stop that!" Mikoto shouted, yelping as Yuka came at her. Ranma could clearly hear it all from outside, standing as he was just to the right of the clinic door. He had come straight here from the dojo this morning, same as every morning, standing outside in the cold, not daring to go inside, only moving to quickly hide when someone else came by. He could hear them talking in there and was glad somebody had come to cheer Akane up. He still didn't have the guts to do it.

'I should have been there, damn it. Akane got hurt and I should have been there, but I sent Konatsu instead.' Ranma resisted the urge to put his fist through the wall. Instead, he just continued to eavesdrop, listening to the girls go on and on about senshi gossip.

'They're saying the Senshi caused that explosion now, huh?' Ranma thought to himself, watching his breath in the chill air as he listened to the girls still going on inside. He still couldn't believe the Senshi were important enough to even be publicly recognized, let alone end up on the news. Apparently he didn't watch enough TV.

"Damn it, what else could go wrong?" Ranma growled under his breath, finally moving away from the door and heading towards Furinkan, still unwilling to head into the clinic.

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

Somewhere out in the Sea of Japan, a young Chinese man was grinning madly. Finally, after many months of training in his homeland, he had finally perfected his technique, not to mention a few other new tricks he picked up along the way. It was finally time to head back to Japan and win his love once and for all from that insufferable bastard! The wooden boat swayed back and forth under his feet as it continued its voyage across the unforgiving sea, ropes straining the mast, wind pushing the sails, reminding him once again of his chosen method of transportation. It was definitely not the most pleasing way to travel, but it worked, especially for some fishing crews. However, for travelers, it was possibly the worst way to get across a sea.

"Why did I think this boat was a good idea?" The young Chinese man questioned, leaning over the side to once again relieve his upset stomach. He made sure to keep his long, black hair out of the way. If it was hit, it would continue to smell like vomit for the rest of the trip, which would only serve to make him feel more sick.

"Probably because it was the cheapest option you had." Mousse narrowed his eyes and looked down angrily at the voice coming from the covered pet carrier at his feet.

"Sh! Shut up! Pets don't talk!" Mousse whispered harshly, glancing around with shifty eyes to see if anybody noticed.

"You should have just bought a plane ticket, you cheapskate. We'd be in Japan by now!" The rough voice from the pet carrier added, ignoring Mousse's warnings.

"Shut up! You're supposed to be a pet, damn it!" Mouse insisted again, before considering his odd companion's words. "And a plane? Don't be stupid! There's no way someone from the backwaters like me could ever just fly to Japan so casually."

(-)(-)(-)(-)

"We are beginning our final approach towards Tokyo Narita International Airport. Please put your tray tables up and return your seat backs to their full upright position. The local time is 5:45 AM. Thank you for flying China Airlines." Cologne sighed pleasantly as she returned her chair to the full upright position, as recommended by the flight attendant. Air travel had to be one of the top reasons she was happy to be living in this century. It was hard to believe some of her kin still took rickety old boats to cross the ocean. Completely absurd!

'I suppose I should enjoy this luxury while it still lasts. With our ancient foes on the move, this modern world of convenience may soon be thrust back into the dark ages.' Cologne thought to herself, her hand falling protectively over the old tome she held in her lap. She didn't dare put it with her bags, it was far too important to her people, too sacred.

'So, a thousand years of peace have finally ended, and the Red Witch returns. If only The Artifacts had not been lost to time, maybe we'd have a chance against what is to come.' Cologne continued to brood as the plane came in for its landing, her eyes fixed on the tome as her fingers slowly and carefully traced the crest on its cover. It was the crest of their eldest clan, of the most ancient of warriors who were the predecessors to the entire martial way of her village, and their symbol still carried great significance. She couldn't help but admire it as she briefly became lost in thought, admiring the noble dragon coiled around an ornamental sword in the foreground, at the phoenix rising triumphantly towards the sky behind it.

But now was not the time to reminisce on the past. Now was the time to prepare for the future. War was coming, and even without the Artifacts of old, she would do all in her power to ensure they were ready for it.

* * *

Bishonen Senshi Sailor Moon

Chapter 9

Escalating Problems

* * *

He looked up at the wall hangings pensively, the symbolism behind the dragon and the phoenix seeming to taunt them now. The Red Witch was on the march and their prince had fallen directly into her clutches. Love had blinded him, and now, they were all doomed.

"I refuse to stand here and wait for death!" Ryouma shouted, slamming his fist into the table with enough force to splinter the solid wood it was carved from. He turned away from the wall hanging then, observing the other guardians in the room.

"Our honor as warriors demands we fight to our last breath, every last one of us giving his life to defend this kingdom from our enemies." Tayama insisted, still sitting in his chair stoically. Ryouma growled at him, turning his full attention to the other guardian.

"Fight to our last breath? In a battle that cannot be won? To what end! Our Prince has abandoned his people, and drags the Sword of Soul into hell with him! We are but Guardians before the Sword. Without the heart, the body is nothing more than a dead husk! Our Artifacts will be powerless when the Prince falls!" Ryouma shouted, his voice echoing around the grand war room chambers. Its girth seemed almost comically inappropriate, now. Nothing like the grand council it once was, now graced only by the Four Guardians.

"Now is not the time to speak of honor, but of survival! We will be the last of our kind should the Red Witch have her way." He concluded.

"You would abandon our kingdom to save your own hide? What of our people? Think of your family!" Rinji insisted, standing from his own chair with the Staff in hand.

"I am! To stand and fight will be the requiem of our people. I will not have my wife and daughter taken by the Witch's hordes. Our lands are a pittance before the lives of our kin. Evacuation is our only recourse." Ryouma returned to his seat as he finished, and a silence fell over the room.

"Evacuation?" The words left his lips, but he did not speak them. This scenario was on auto-pilot, and he was but an observer. "To where could we go? We are the Guardians of the Soul. Our very essence is tied to our artifacts, and they to the Sword. When the Prince falls and the Witch claims the Sword, we will be as puppets to her will. No matter where we lead our people on this earth, our very presence would draw our enemies to their door."

The silence became deafening as they all sat in that old room, the gravity of their fate weighing upon them. He could do nothing but stand and watch, still an observer trapped in his body, as the four deliberated.

"Konaru speaks truth. When the sword falls, We become but a liability." Ryouma declared, standing from his seat. "Our people shall evacuate across the sea, but our fate is sealed."

"They will flee, but we will stand." Rinji added, rising as well.

"Fighting to our last breath." Tayama finished as he also stood, "With honor."

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

Konatsu opened her eyes, wincing immediately and closing her eyelids again to hide from the light that mercilessly forced its way into her pupils. She sat up and glared at the small crack between the door and the wall that let the light in from the next room. It was most unpleasant.

The light was only a momentary distraction, however, her thoughts immediately returning to her dream. It was much different than the usual dreams of princesses and palaces since becoming Sailor Mars, but still just as vivid. What were the Guardians? And who was the Red Witch? She felt like she should know this. However nothing came to mind, and she found herself struggling to figure it out. It was like it was on the tip of her tongue.

Suddenly the door to the room opened, and there stood Ukyo. She didn't even look down at Konatsu as she reached forward to grab some clothes off the shelves above. Once she was done, she turned around, closing the door behind her, and leaving Konatsu in the darkness of the closet.

"Ukyo-sama..." Konatsu began, opening the closet door and climbing out of her bed. She lowered her gaze slightly as she saw Ukyo begin to dress. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, just let me finish getting dressed." She replied, fumbling slightly. Konatsu continued to avert her eyes while she waited patiently. This was going to be a really strange question, but it was probably best to at least ask someone about it.

"Alright, so what's up Konatsu?" Ukyo asked, turning towards the newly minted girl. That still kinda weirded her out, to be honest, but she was trying to get over it.

"Well...Do you think dreams have any meanings?" Konatsu asked, earning a confused blink from the chef.

"Uh...I don't know, I guess it depends on the dream?" Ukyo replied, straightening out her school uniform and slowly stretching out the kinks in her healing wounds. She was pretty much back to normal now, thankfully.

"Why, you've been having weird dreams or something?" Ukyo asked, remembering her own recent dream with a shudder. She certainly hoped there weren't any deeper meanings to it. She didn't want to think what that'd mean for her sanity.

"Do you think that dreams can show the past?" Konatsu asked. She had a very strange feeling that this was in fact the case for some of her dreams. The dreams she used to have, of being a princess of mars, seemed linked to her newly found magical girl powers. It made sense, but this newest dream didn't follow that pattern. She had no idea who this Konaru was, and yet it seemed just as real.

"Th...the past? Like, past lives? Past lives in some kind of crazy kingdom? No! That's silly! That's totally impossible!" Ukyo suddenly started to rant, ignoring Konatsu for a moment as she started to pace and continued to mumble her unstoppable train of thought.

"I mean, okay, fine, Ranma's a prince. I get that. And sure, crazy redheaded witch who wants to take over the world, why not? Totally plausible I guess! But there's no way in hell that Ryoga is my-"

"Ukyo-sama..." Konatsu began, cutting the chef off halfway through her ramblings. "I never mentioned kingdoms..."

"Oh...right...of course not." Ukyo replied, pausing for a moment in awkward silence, "That's because they're totally not real and don't exist, so why would you mention them? I sure didn't mention them. Hahaha..."

She paused slightly, glancing nervously at Konatsu. "I'm going to school!" She suddenly announced, grabbing her bag and heading out the door with unnecessary haste. Konatsu just stared at the door, confusion growing in her mind as she tried to make sense of Ukyo's insane ramblings.

"So I should run the restaurant while you're at school, then?" Konatsu asked the air. It offered no reply.

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

"Ah...what a nice, brisk air. Perfect weather for a morning work out." Amawa Hibiki muttered, closing his eyes and breathing deep to cherish the winter air. Nothing quite like cold air to wake you up and encourage your body to move. Winter was always the best. Students tried harder in the cold than they did in the summer, maintaining activity simply as a means to keep warm. He had a good feeling about today. Gym class was going to be a good one.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Amawa muttered, coming out of his reverie and pulling out the small reminder note he had written himself. He had more than just gym to attend to today. He was supposed to cover a homeroom for some teacher that was going to be arriving late. "What was her name again...ah, Hinako-sensei, right."

The gym teacher's attention was drawn away from the reminder, however, at the sight of movement in the corner of his eye. He glanced up quickly, spotting a girl in street clothes jogging onto the field at a fairly high speed. For a moment he smiled, proud of such a brilliant display of athletic devotion, only to be brought out of it when he saw the girl heading into the door that lead to the boy's locker room.

"What is she up to?" The teacher muttered, pocketing his reminder and heading into the gym himself.

(-)

Ryu turned the handle on the shower, closing her eyes as the cold water shot out of the shower head and soaked her body. Slowly the water began to turn warm and more comfortable as she sighed, rubbing the soreness out of her joints. The softness of her body only reminded her of just how much she had lost, so undeniably feminine in shape. Her thoughts drifted towards her run, and how far she had to push herself just to make it here. She was still catching her breath even now as the water washed the sweat away, running her hands through her hair. Strange, it was longer than she remembered.

How much longer would it be before she regained her former glory? How much more sweat and blood would she need to spare? The idea frustrated her, that she would have to reattain something that she should rightfully still have. She sighed, rubbing her head in frustration. If only there was a quicker way to get back to her original strength, a faster method of retraining her body. She laughed at the thought. Like there would be something so convenient.

"Excuse me." Ryu turned towards the voice, spotting some older man with a long ponytail standing at the edge of the showers, averting his eyes towards the ceiling. Who was this guy? The Janitor?

"What are you doing here?" Ryu asked, glaring at the man for a moment before returning her focus to her shower.

"That's my line." Amawa said, still trying his best to avoid looking at her. "You do realize this is the boy's locker room, right?"

Ryu stopped for a moment at that comment, glancing up at the man again before looking around the showers. The boy's locker room, huh? She hadn't even been thinking about it. It was a factor of her recent gender change she hadn't considered, one that probably should have come up sooner. She really would have to use the ladies' room from now on, wouldn't she? She thought on that for a moment, thinking about the times she had to use the public baths in the past, as well as the fact she was now enrolled in this school, and would thus have to change in the girl's locker room.

"What's your point?" Ryu asked, looking down at the water around her feet, flowing towards the drain. She was clean enough, she decided, shutting off the valves and grabbing her towel.

"My point is that you shouldn't be in here." Amawa said, looking in any particular direction that was not at the nude female teen that was separated from him by a thin piece of plastic. It was then that he noticed her clothes on the bench outside the showers. "Are you even a student here?" He asked, once again looking at the ceiling.

"Yes." Ryu reapplied simply, stepping out of the shower area with her towel around her body, watching as the man turned around completely.

"Do you have a school uniform?" He added, looking in the opposite direction for a few moments when the sudden sound of metal being torn open grabbed his attention. He momentarily forgot the almost naked girl behind him, reflexively turning around to see her tearing a locker door off and grabbing the uniform inside.

"Do now." She said, dropping her towel as Amawa turned around again. He frowned, staring in the opposite direction again as the girl changed. Ryu quickly pulled on the baggy uniform and tossed her dirty clothes in the broken locker, brushing her hair over her shoulder as she walked past Amawa and towards the door.

"What's your name?" Amawa demanded. It was his duty as a teacher to properly deal with this delinquent girl, even if she was fairly scary. She barely looked over her shoulder, flipping him the finger before opening the door.

"Fuck off, Janitor. Not like I'm ever gonna see you again, anyway." Ryu slammed the door behind her, leaving Amawa to his thoughts as his frown deepened. It was a few minutes later when he finally remembered the reminder in his pocket, heading off towards Ms. Hinako's class with a frustrated sigh.

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

Ranma glanced towards the door, briefly wondering where Ms. Hinako was. Not that he was complaining about her absence, of course, though anything would be a welcome reprieve from the conversation he was currently having.

"No way, Mars is the tallest! Mercury and Moon are both short compared to her." Yuka insisted, pulling out some kind of tabloid and pointing at the blurry photo of the senshi someone had snapped during the carnival. They were showing up in tabloids now? Ranma could only shake his head.

"She's wearing heels, you goof! Of course she looks taller! Mercury is definitely taller than Mars!" Sayuri countered, pointing to the footwear on the red colored senshi. Huh, Konatsu did wear heels when transformed, didn't she? Ranma briefly wondered how she ran around in those things.

"What do you think, Ranma?" Both girls were suddenly giving Ranma their complete attention, causing him to stop slightly in his leaning and straighten out.

"What were we talking about again?" Ranma pretended like he wasn't paying attention, though the looks on both girls' faces told him they weren't buying it, "Uh...Jupiter is tallest, hands down."

"Huh?" Yuka muttered in bewilderment.

"Jupiter?" Sayuri joined in confusion.

"You know, the green one? Kinda messy hair? Big boobs? Tall? Shoots lightning at things?" Ranma continued to list off attributes, only to see the other two girls grow more and more confused, "She's the one... you two... haven't... heard about... yet..."

The sudden realization that the only fights Jupiter had partaken in either had no witnesses or took place in the Tendo home hit Ranma like a sack of bricks, and the way the two girls were now looking at him was getting more and more uncomfortable by the second.

"I knew it!" Yuka loudly declared, pointing dramatically at Ranma with a triumphant smirk, "You DO have inside information on the Senshi!"

"Um...No...really...I, uh..." Ranma's mind was racing a mile a minute as he tried to think of a good excuse, wishing he could kick himself for being so stupid.

"You're totally using your martial arts skills to track and spy on the senshi, aren't you! You're like their number one fan!" Sayuri suddenly concluded, her own confident grin adorning her face. Ranma quickly fell over, tipping his chair slightly too far backwards and slamming into the floor with a heavy thump.

"Yeah...That's it...You caught me." He deadpanned, slowly pulling himself up and righting his chair. Both girls were now completely focused on him. He had a feeling this was what it was like to be a slab of meat held before two hungry dogs.

"You are like, so totally the official president of our Sailor Senshi Fan Club, Ranma! You've got my vote!" Sayuri insisted, with Yuka quickly joining it.

"Yeah! Now spill! We want the full scoop on this new recruit!" Yuka insisted. Luckily for Ranma, the door opened at that exact moment, as he righted his chair and sat up straight.

"Sorry, can't talk now. Class is starting!" He quickly said, glad that Hinako had finally shown up to save him from this conversation. Only it wasn't Hinako who was coming in.

"Good Morning, students!" Amawa yelled as he entered the classroom. All talking petered out in a matter of moments, and all the students looked up to see someone who was definitely not their homeroom teacher.

"Ryoga's uncle?" Ranma muttered in confusion. Where was Hinako?

"You should all recognize me by now as your Gym Teacher, but for those of you who have been skipping Gym, I am Hibiki-sensei!" Amawa announced, turning around and quickly writing his name on the board behind him. "Hinako-sensei is running late today, so I'll be filling in for her homeroom class. But don't worry, I've been assured she'll be here in time for English."

"Hinako's late?" Ranma had never known the teacher to be late, especially considering her gung ho approach to the school rules. Being tardy was an offense worthy of draining, by her standards.

"Let's see here..." Amawa muttered, checking the notes Hinako-sensei left on her desk, "Hmm...It seems like we're supposed to have a new student joining us, today. Is Ryu Kumon here?"

Ranma promptly fell out of his chair, smashing his head against the desk of the person behind him with a curse. The class glanced at Ranma as he angrily got back up, just as the door slid open again.

"Ryu..." Amawa begins, seeing the girl from before standing in the doorway, a schedule in hand. She took one look at him and groaned audibly, putting her free hand to her face as a smirk built on the teacher's face. "...Kumon. Tardy, I see."

"Shoulda seen this coming..." Ryu muttered to herself. Amawa gestured to a pair of buckets in the corner, already filled with water.

"Stand in the hall, Miss Kumon." Ryu's eye twitched, hand clenched and knuckles cracking as she struggled to resist the urge to put the teacher through the wall for that one. But she controlled herself, grabbing the buckets and heading towards the hall. "And hold them at arms length. Don't think I forgot about the gym."

"Whatever." Ryu replied, closing the door behind her. Ranma just blinked at the exchange, still unsure of what was going on. What the hell was Ryu doing there? This was his school, damnit! With none of the other senshi in school, it was his one place to be free of all that crap.

"Who's the new guy? He's cute!"

"He looks like a delinquent, though."

"That's totally a girl."

"What? No he isn't. He was wearing a boy's uniform!"

"It totally didn't fit her."

"Yeah, and Ukyo wears the same thing."

"Ukyo's a girl?"

"Where the hell have you been?"

Ranma banged his head against the desk a few times, groaning as he did.

"Is there something wrong, Saotome?" Amawa asked, having watched the peculiar display.

"Just the realization that I will never, ever find peace in life." Ranma replied, not lifting his head from the desk.

(-)

Ryu readjusted her grip on the two buckets, holding them straight out from her body as she felt her muscles strain to keep them upright. That teacher was crazy if he thought this was supposed to be punishment. She would have done this anyway. Hell, she might add some squats to the equation at this rate, it wasn't nearly enough of a work out yet. Another student arriving gave her pause, however, turning to the girly boy coming up the hall now.

Ukyo blinked as she arrived at her class, spotting someone new standing with buckets outside. It was obviously a girl, though she was poorly masquerading as a boy in that uniform. Wasn't even trying to hide her large boobs. Who did she think she'd fool? It's not like you can put on a boy's uniform and make an angry face and expect to pass.

Ukyo's eyes lingered on the girl's face for a moment, feeling an odd sense of recognition. She looked...familiar. But from where?

"Do I know you?" Ukyo asked as she approached, earning a glance from the girl. There was something about her face that was setting off alarm bells in her mind. She could have sworn she'd seen her somewhere before.

"No." Came Ryu's reply. That still didn't stop the boy from staring at her face, however, so Ryu decided to stare right back. Hmm... On second thought, this was probably a girl. No guy looked this girly.

"Huh...Coulda sworn..." Ukyo muttered, still thinking about how she knew this girl. It never occurred to her that this was the girl Ranma and Konatsu had dragged into her restaurant several weeks ago. Instead, her mind went to a more recent memory, causing her to jerk back as she suddenly realized why the girl looked so familiar.

"Hahaha, my mistake. It was just a dream!" With that, Ukyo quickly went into class, leaving Ryu to just stare at her exit in confusion.

"Weirdo." She muttered, beginning her squats.

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

Time passed, the day went on, and Ryu eventually found herself actually in class, not that she actually paid attention to anything the teacher was saying. No, she was fairly certain that would make this experience even more mind numbing than it already was. Instead, Ryu's attention was drawn to the rest of the students in the class room, primarily because the majority of them were focused on her.

Ranma was glancing at Ryu, still unsure why she had become a student. He didn't even realize they were the same age. What could have possibly possessed her to start going to school? It sure as hell didn't look like she gave a crap about her education. She was screwing with him, that had to be it. She was bitter about losing the duel and having to be a senshi so she was going to annoy him for the rest of his life in vengeance. It was the only rational explanation.

Ukyo was focusing on Ryu because Ranma was focusing on Ryu, and she did not like the way the pigtailed boy was giving this new girl looks every couple of seconds. Who the hell did she think she was? And what was with that boy's uniform? The new girl was cramping her style, and she wasn't going to stand for it, no sir.

The rest of the students had their attention on the new girl for their own reasons. The girls who thought she was a guy were admiring her beauty, the guys who knew she was a girl were doing the same, and the rest were all expecting some more drama to erupt between the new girl and Ranma, which was always good for entertainment.

The teacher was focusing on her because she was making no attempt to even pretend to be paying attention. It wasn't until Ryu snatched the piece of chalk thrown at her out of the sky that she even glanced at the slightly obese man trying to give them an education.

"Miss Kumon, go stand in the hall." Ryu crushed the chalk into powder, glaring at the man for a moment before standing, grabbing some buckets and leaving the room.

"Now then, back to the subject at-" The teacher paused as Ranma abruptly stood. He was about to punish the boy, only to see him grab some buckets and head out into the hall, apparently punishing himself. Having no idea how to respond to this, the teacher simply stood there in stupefied silence.

And then Ukyo did the same thing, grabbing a pair of buckets and following Ranma out of the class. Now everyone had their attention firmly glued to the door as the teacher sighed, realizing he had no chance of regaining control at this point.

"What're you doing here?" Ryu asked, seeing Ranma appear from the classroom carrying his own buckets.

"Me? What're _you_ doing here? Since when do you go to school?" Ranma demanded, closing the door behind him.

"Hey, I made a promise and I intend to keep it. I'm no good to you halfway across town." Ryu replied, just as Ukyo arrived.

"What does that mean?" Ranma jumped upon hearing Ukyo's voice, turning to see the other girl.

"Ukyo, what're you doing out here? Get back in class!" Ranma insisted. Ukyo promptly ignored his plea.

"Who is this girl, Ranma?" She demanded.

"The weirdo girl again? Who are you anyway?" Ryu asked, only to see Ukyo get rather indignant and step forward. Ranma intentionally placed himself between the two, knowing where this was going with a growing sense of dread.

"I'm Ranma's Fiancee, Ukyo Kounji! Who are you?" Ukyo was clearly angry, and Ranma looked like a man who was staring down an oncoming train. Ryu just glanced at the girl in confusion for a moment. Finacee? Wasn't Akane Ranma's Fiancee? That came up repeatedly back when she was trying to get the Umisenken...

"What? You can't be Ranma's Fiancee, he already has one." Ryu insisted. Ukyo suddenly saw red, turning her glare from the new girl to Ranma, who was doing a fantastic impression of a man about to have a heart attack.

"Shut up, Ryu..." Ranma insisted through clenched teeth, feeling Ukyo's eyes burning holes in the side of his face as he picked up the sound of the entire class whispering in the room behind them. This situation was all falling into place with horrifying speed and clarity, and there was little Ranma could do about it. Just one more false step and everything would be-

"Wait, you have more than one fiancee? You womanizing bastard!" Ryu accused. Ranma couldn't help it. The reflex was too great. He released a bucket and facepalmed with such intensity the sound of his hand slapping against his skull reverberated around the hall. That was it, the final nail in the coffin. Ryu was completely oblivious to what she had just done, and now there was no stopping the avalanche that would be coming his way for the rest of the week. The windows of the classroom flew open as all the students in their class began talking all at once, and Ukyo looked like she was about to explode and take the entire hallway with her.

'I need a distraction.' Ranma thought, just as the sound of maniacal laughter and the outraged cries of high school girls echoed down the hall.

"Perfect timing." Ranma muttered under his breath, dropping his buckets as Happosai ran by, pursued by half the female student body. Ranma instantly gave chase, with Ryu close behind, and Ukyo close behind her. At which point, the entire class decided it'd be a good idea to follow, leaving the teacher silently weeping at his desk.

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

Happosai cackled as he ducked into the gym, watching as his pursuers ran by without stopping. The chase had been sweet, but now was the time to bask in the spoils of war, and he couldn't have any distractions while he was admiring his silky darlings.

"What a strange little human you are. Almost look like a Youma already." Zoicite commented as he appeared in a swirl of petals, floating easily in the air as Happosai turned around to see who dared interrupted him.

"Now then, let's see your true for-"

"SWEETO!" Happosai was off in a flash, much to the effeminate general's surprise. He latched onto Zoicite's chest with a look of pure joy on his face, which promptly turned to horror as he felt the firm manly chest under the blond's uniform. Impossible! How could someone like this be a man? Happosai went into convulsions, freezing up and falling over backwards without resistance, too horrified by groping a man to break his fall.

"You vile beast! How dare you?" Zoicite howled in outrage, stopping to kick the diminutive man several times in the ribs for this injustice. He stopped about a few minutes and caught his breath, remembering what he came here for and quickly extracted the crystal.

"I'll just be taking this, you horrible fiend, and then I'll be on my-Ah!" Just as Zoicite got his fingers on the crystal, a small dagger sliced through the air, clipping his hand and sending the Indigo jewel flying into the hands of his attacker.

"I'll be taking this." The masked man announced, catching the rainbow crystal with ease.

"You! How dare you strike me! Give that back!" Zoicite insisted. At that instant, Ranma and Ryu entered the room, first noticing Zoicite and Tux Boy, then spotting Happosai convulsing on the floor and glowing with energy. Only then did Ranma notice the crystal in Tux's hand.

"Hey! What're you doing with that?" Ranma demanded. Without a word, Tux leapt away, landing in a window near the top of the gym and bounding off.

"You won't escape!" Zoicite announced, giving chase. Ranma was about to follow as well, only to be stopped by Ryu's hand.

"Ranma, we need to deal with this first!" Ryu pointed to Happosai, who promptly exploded with power, filling the gym with smoke.

"Shit..." Ranma glanced around quickly, making sure no one else was around to see. Where was Ukyo? Hadn't she been right behind Ryu? They must have lost her at some point, which was definitely a good thing now.

"Moon Prism/Jupiter Power, Make up!" They shouted in unison, drawing their respective transformation items and saying their respective lines. Jupiter finished her transformation first, a frown on her face as she once again found herself in the disturbingly form fitting and girly uniform. If she ever met the guy who designed this outfit, she was going to kick him in the balls. Moon completed her transformation about a minute later, landing just as the smoke cleared and revealed the new form Happosai had taken.

"I always knew that old goat was a monster of some kind..." Moon remarked, looking at the odd ape like creature that now stood before them, grinning like a mad man and staring at them with his insane yellow eyes.

"Jijijiji..." The youma muttered, looking between the two hungrily. There was something about the way it was looking at her that creeped Jupiter out. It was almost...lustful.

"Supreme..." Jupiter began, collecting lightning on her fingertips as she glared at the new monster. He was creeping her out, and the sooner she blasted him to hell, the happier she'd be, "...Thunder!"

The bolt of lightning struck where Jiji was, but he was gone in an instant. Jupiter suddenly froze as she felt a sudden weight on her midsection, glancing down to see the tiny ape clinging to her body just in time to see it shove its face between her breasts. A horrible chill of utter revulsion passed through her, followed by a chill of a completely different sort as the strength just completely left her body. Her legs grew weak, her arms felt like lead, and she was suddenly on her back, barely able to move as the horrible little monster continued to rub itself against her.

"Moon Tiara Action!" The youma leapt away from Jupiter as the discus of death cut through the space his body occupied, twisting through the air and returning to Moon's hand. A flash of motion of the corner of her eye was the only warning she got as she quickly hurled the tiara again, forcing the youma to break off his approach and dodge again to prevent being cut, only to rebound again at insane speed and catch moon across the abdomen, his feet grabbing her biceps and his hands on her thighs as he shoved his face in her crotch.

"GET THE FUCK OFF ME!" Moon yelled, struggling against the monster only to find all the power seem to leave her body. She collapsed like Jupiter did, seeing her tiara making its return pass and willing it to strike the demon latched onto her body. This time it connected, dragging the youma across the gym as both senshi struggled to get back to their feet.

"What the hell is that thing?" Jupiter growled out, shaking the numbness out of her body as she tried to wipe the feeling of that disgusting imp rubbing her from memory. Moon returned to her feet as well, face red with embarressment and fury as she glared at the tiny monster. It was somehow blocking her tiara, getting dragged around the air instead of cut to pieces. She willed it to slam the little bastard into the ground for good measure, before it finally ran out of power and returned to being a normal tiara.

"The old goat gets strength from feeling up girls. Shit...to think he's even worse like this..." Moon announced, standing in a defensive position and glaring at the youma that was now returning to its feet.

"He gets stronger from being a pervert? Look at the way we're dressed, genius! Think you could have mentioned that part sooner?" Jupiter replied bitterly, never taking her eyes off the imp. It was suddenly in motion, flying at her with speed that reminded her of the Umisenken. She barely saw it, dodging more by reflex than anything as he tried to grope her breasts and instead got a punch to the face for his troubles.

"Die!" She growled, lightning crackling on her fists as she tried to blast the little imp again, only to see him dodge aside casually between each blast. She collected the lightning yet again, spotting Moon rushing towards the monster out of the corner of her eye and blasted at him again, this time aiming slightly to the right. He dodged left, directly into an arcing axe kick that hurled him into the ground so hard he went straight through the floor boards and cratered the concrete foundation underneath.

The Youma barely slowed down, rebounding from this blow before Moon could even land, launching out of the hole he made and latching onto the redhead's rear as he returned, fingers going wild. Moon screamed in outrage, but Jupiter had been expecting that, her boot catching the little imp in the cranium seconds after he got a grip on Moon and sending him flying into the wall.

"Watch out!" Moon shouted, spinning around as the imp once again rebounded. Her tiara went flying, however it was deflected by the monster, who made a beeline for Jupiter's still raised leg.

In an instant the youma was behind them, moving so fast the displaced wind blew at their skirts as Jupiter shuddered, still feeling the imp's hands all the way up her leg from when it passed her. She also noticed a rather odd draft, turning around to see the little demon rubbing a piece of white fabric on his face.

"Jijiji!" he shouted in joy, not even paying attention to the girls in favor of his new bounty.

"Is that..." Moon muttered, glancing at Jupiter to see a look of pure rage on her face.

"Yes... It is..." She replied. An instant later, she exploded, her hair standing straight up in complete defiance to gravity as her aura expanded around her. Moon almost stopped her. Almost. But to be honest, Happosai deserved it.

"MOUKO KAIMON HA!" The little youma glanced up just in time to see an enraged Jupiter rushing him at speeds approaching his own before everything simply exploded. Moon had to shield her eyes from the resulting blast of shrapnel, looking up just in time to see the entire eastern wall of the gym was simply gone. Jupiter stood at the center of the blast, her leg firmly planted in the crater that used to be the floor, shaking with rage.

"He...dodged..." She gasped, collapsing to the ground as her aura was completely stripped, the youma latched onto her back and groping her chest from behind. Moon's tiara flew towards him again, forcing him to abandon his victim to avoid it and instead focus on the girl who was still standing.

"Damn it, just stand still and die already!" Moon shouted, dodging an attempted grope and slamming the imp into the floorboards. He wiggled out from under her fist, coiling up her arm like a snake and caressing her skin in disturbing ways as he went. Moon punched him off again as he reached her shoulder, feeling a little numb from the touch as the imp once again rebounded and came straight back at her. He was going right for her chest, and there was nothing she could do to stop him, too slow to react.

A wave of power rushed between them, forcing the youma to stop short and change direction as the ground was cleaved in half along its chosen course. Moon took a step back in surprise, looking towards the source of the disturbance in shock.

"K...Kuno?" Her jaw dropped open, unsure how to respond to this. Jupiter struggled to a kneeling position, breathing heavily as she watched the newcomer step in.

"You ladies look like you could use some help." Kuno announced, tossing his book bag aside and firmly grasping his bokken in both hands.

"Jijiji..." The youma muttered, glaring at the interloper angrily before rushing towards Moon again. Kuno's blade flashed forward, glowing with power as a crescent wave flew from its edge, rushing across the gym to cut the Youma off from his chosen victim. The Youma seemed to expect this, however, rebounding off the ground just before the wave and flying towards Kuno.

"Asaruto!" Kuno shouted, twisting to the side to avoid the Youma's claw and bringing his blade back up. He struck solidly, a wave of power following the crack of the wood as the Youma was blasted into the ceiling with a cry of pain, rebounding off and flying down towards Moon again.

"Sutoraiku!" Kuno spun, magic power trailing on the tip of his blade as he thrust it forward, launching a sharp spike of energy through the air that intercepted the small imp before he reached his target, once again earning a cry of pain from the beast as it was blown clear across the gym, smashing into the far wall with enough force to crater it. For the first time, it didn't rebound, instead falling out of the new crater and slowly regaining its feet.

"Is that the best you have, Jiji? I can do this all day." Kuno remarked, magic power coiling around his blade as he stood at the ready. Moon just continued to gape at him. What in the hell was going on? She had been getting her ass handed to her this entire time, and Kuno just casually shows up and wipes the floor with him? Today was turning into the mother of all bad days. Outdone by Kuno? The very idea made her want to kick something.

But still, the youma was injured, and that's all she needed. Whether it was because of Kuno or not, she wasn't about to turn down a chance to put an end to this nonsense, producing her moon stick with a flourish.

"Moon healing-" Jiji wasn't about to cooperate, however, and burst off at top speed, heading for the exits. Moon cursed and gave chase, Jupiter struggling to a standing position and doing the same.

Kuno took a few steps forward only to find himself dragged backward by an invisible force, turning slightly to see Nabiki standing in the doorway.

"Nabiki Tendo, what is the meaning of this?" Kuno asked, glancing at the mercenary girl with a frown on his face.

"This isn't our fight, Kuno. Stay out of their business." Nabiki answered, gesturing towards Kuno's discarded bookbag, which promptly flew across the room into her hand.

"Excuse me for disagreeing, Nabiki." Kuno replied, taking his bag from the girl and looking towards where the two senshi and youma went, his frown deepening slightly.

"Some part of me tells me it's a bad idea to help them." Nabiki said.

"I try to ignore that part of myself." Kuno replied.

"I don't mean that part." Nabiki returned with a sigh, before turning and heading towards the door, "They don't need our help. Not yet. We shouldn't let their enemies know what we can still do."

Kuno just stood there silently for a moment, sparing one last look towards the other exit before sighing and following Nabiki, heading back towards class.

(-)(-)

Ryu struggled to catch up to Ranma, still recovering from having all her energy drawn out. She had already dropped out of her Senshi transformation several blocks ago, but she wasn't about to slow down. Now back in the boy's uniform she stole, she at least had pants now, which meant much less worrying about the uncomfortable breeze. She pushed herself harder, increasing in speed until she was matching Ranma stride for stride, looking over at the other girl to see the look of frustration on her face.

"This wouldn't have happened if I was a guy," Ranma growled, dropping the transformation as she ran. Tightening the draw string on her pants, she continued to chase after the impish youma, which was thankfully still in view. "Only reason Kuno did better than me."

"Where the hell is this thing going, anyway?" Ryu asked, bounding over the edge of one roof and hitting the next in a roll, immediately returning to a full sprint alongside Ranma.

"Considering it's the old goat, a place where there are a lot of women," Ranma stated, recognizing the building up ahead, "Detour."

As Jiji went over, Ranma bounded down, going through the open door and straight through the main room into the kitchen beyond with Ryu in tow. She spotted the tea kettle without slowing down and slammed into it, wincing through the boiling water as he was once again a man.

"Son in law?" Cologne muttered, watching Ranma bound through her kitchen and out the back at a full clip, using her kettle to return to being male. There was an odd girl right behind him as well, someone Cologne didn't recognize. What a curious situation. This definitely needed some looking into.

"Mousse, watch the store. I have some business to attend to." Cologne said, grabbing her staff from against the wall. The almost-blind man turned to her and smirked.

"That's a first. While I am honored, I must ask: are you sure you should be letting me control the future's of people's food?" Mousse asked sarcastically, adjusting his glasses.

"Are you giving me lip, boy?" Cologne asked, glaring at the blind man.

"N-no." He stuttered, taking a step back.

"Good. Shampoo's father is in charge while I am gone, not you. Your job is to merely stand there and take the blame should anything go wrong in my absence." With that said, the old Amazon left out the back door, following the other two martial artists.

"You should be ashamed to call yourself a man." Came the voice from the pet carrier on the counter. Mousse just growled at it, throwing a towel over the offending box.

"See if I let you out anytime soon." Mousse replied, moving to clean up the hot water Ranma spilt everywhere. There was some struggling from the pet carrier, as if the animal inside was struggling to open the door, before it stopped.

"At least feed me, you jerk." The voice said, sounding sullen. Mousse just scoffed in response.

(-)

"He's heading to the damn bathhouse!" Ranma announced, suddenly realizing where the little imp was going. It was the only thing in this direction that made any sense, and the idea of this monster getting into the girl's bath made his blood run cold.

"Damn it, why is this thing so damn fast?" Ryu complained, still pushing herself to her limit. There was only so much strain she could handle in a day, and with her morning work out and having all her chi drained, twice, she was beginning to feel a serious plateau approaching.

"Just stay here, Ryu! You're not gonna be any help anyway." Ranma shouted, pushing himself just a bit faster to try and close in on Jiji. Ryu turned towards him, glaring at the pigtailed boy for a moment as she promptly ignored her limits and pushed herself even faster.

"The hell is that supposed to mean, Saotome?" Ryu demanded. Ranma just glanced at Ryu, resisting the urge to groan.

"He gets stronger from fighting women, Ryu! It should be obvious why you should stay out of this!" Ranma stressed, pushing himself even more. He was starting to gain on Jiji, but unfortunately wasn't losing Ryu.

"Are you trying to say I'm too weak to fight him just because I'm a woman?" Ryu shouted back. Ranma audibly groaned this time, averting his eyes from the pissed girl.

"Oh my god, I am not having this conversation right now... I put up with this shit from Akane plenty! Just stay out of this one!" Ranma insisted.

"Like hell!" Ryu replied. Jiji reached the bathhouse then, slowing ever so much as he was forced to change direction. They used that opportunity to close the distance, a step behind the youma as he burst through the doors into the main room.

"You aren't getting away!" Ranma's fingers dug into the shoe locker in the entrance and tore it from its supports, pulling it overhead and hurling it towards the fleeing Youma. He intentionally overshot, however, forcing the Youma to skid to a stop as the locker crashed down between him and his destination.

Ryu skid to a halt as Ranma closed in, unleashing a flurry of blows upon the diminutive youma that immediately began to dodge and weave around every attack he could throw. It was like Ranma was fighting a smokescreen, none of this blows hitting anything but air as his frustration continued to build. Cologne arrived just in time to see Ranma scream with rage and bisect the shoe locker with a roundhouse kick, the small imp leaping over his head with a maniacal giggle.

"Interesting..." She muttered, watching the creature shove her son in law's head through the floor. So Ranma had taken up monster hunting, had he? This was certainly a new pass time.

"Screw this, I'm not just gonna stand here!" Ryu shouted, bracing herself as she built up her aura again, pulling on what little remained of her chi reserves as she once again exploded with power. Cologne raised her eyebrow at this, closely examing the technique of this new girl.

"Very interesting..." She decided, descending from her staff to sit nearby and watch the fight.

"KIJIN RAISHU DAN!" Cologne's other eyebrow went up, witnessing the implosive force of the vacuum blade tear half the building apart.

"Very interesting indeed..." Cologne simply sat back and watched the fight, ignoring the by-standards that were now fleeing in abject terror, including the buck naked people who had been in the baths. Ranma found a fist connecting with his midsection and was launched across the room, passing through the wall and landing in the baths as Jiji proceeded to ignore him in favor of the glowing girl who was acting like a one woman demolition team. Ryu was on her last legs, however, unable to keep her power up to maintain the technique as she launched another vacuum blade at the annoyingly agile youma.

"Damn it...I can't..." Ryu gasped, trying hard to catch her breath as she fell to one knee, seeing Jiji coming at her with arms stretched out, prepared to rub his face all over her breasts again. Ryu felt her second wind coming with the shudder of revulsion that thought brought her, bringing up her right hand as the youma approached.

"Dokuja Tanketsu Sho!" She thrust her hand forward, aiming for the dirty little bastard's heart, seeing him start to dodge and correcting her own trajectory to compensate. In an instant they crossed, a sound like thunder reverberating across the entryway as Jiji landed behind Ryu, his left arm landing in front of her.

"Ji?" The little imp muttered in confusion, apparently surprised by this development. The arm turned to ash and vanished as Ryu turned, slowly getting to her feet with a confident smirk between her tired gasps.

"Gotcha...you little pest..." She got out between breaths, turning slightly as Ranma bounded back into the room through the hole in the wall he got punched through.

"Alright, that's it, I'm pissed." Ranma announced, landing with a stomp that cracked the concrete under his feet and cracking his knuckles as he stood, looking somewhat surprised as he finally looked at the monster. "You tore his arm off?"

"He tried to touch me." Ryu replied. Ranma had no good response to that. Sounded like as good a reason as any.

"Jiji..." The little imp backed up a step, clutching at the empty socket where his other arm used to be.

"JI!" With an angry howl, the youma leapt into the air, a multitude of small explosives appearing in his only remaining hand as he began hurling them around the already decimated bathhouse. Ranma's eyes widened in horror, lifting his arms to try in vain to protect himself from the resulting explosion.

"Oh Shi-" He didn't even finish his sentence before there was a deafening boom, thrown clean off his feet by the resulting shockwave. By the time the smoke cleared, the bathhouse was little more than a pile of rubble, and the Youma was nowhere to be found.

"God damn it!" Ranma shouted, getting to his feet and punching one of the few remaining parts of the wall that was still standing, which promptly crumpled and fell over. "Could this day possibly get any worse at this point?"

"Interesting habits you've picked up, Son-In-Law." Cologne spoke up, making her presence known. Ryu climbed out from under some rubble, coughing a few times as she cradled her injuries. Cologne's eyes were drawn to the girl again, watching her return to her feet. "Interesting company as well."

"Cologne? When did you get back to Nerima?" Ranma hadn't even noticed when the old woman showed up. Last he checked, Shampoo said she was in China for something or other.

"This morning, Son-in-Law, but my absence and recent return isn't what's important here. I'm far more interested in this new friend you've made." Cologne replied, waving off Ranma's attempt to change the subject and gesturing to the injured Ryu.

"Ugh, not this shit again. I don't have time for your misunderstandings!" Ranma growled out, his frustration at its peak as he simply leapt from the wreckage of the building to a nearby roof and bounded off, trying futilely to track the youma that escaped.

"Such anger. That boy is going to tear himself apart at the rate he's going." Cologne muttered to herself, turning again as Ryu returned to her feet and began to leave. "I suppose I should just ask you for an explanation, then, child. What are your intentions with my son-in-law?"

"Son-in-law?" Ryu muttered, rubbing her shoulder a bit, "Look lady, the only thing I intend to do with Ranma right now is beat the tar out of him. Don't go thinking anything else."

"Is that what they call it these days?" Cologne replied, chuckling slightly at the look of horror that crossed the girl's face.

"I'm a man, damn it!" Ryu shouted, red in the face as Cologne only chuckled some more.

"That was a joke, child." The old woman said, getting back up on her staff, "And I already suspected you were a man."

That gave Ryu pause, her anger vanishing as she looked at the woman in confusion.

"How?" She asked, honestly curious.

"Because you use your chi like a man." Cologne answered. Seeing only more confusion, she continued, "That technique of yours, that aura, what do you call it?"

"Yamasenken." Ryu replied quickly, wondering where the old bat was going with this. Used her chi like a man? What the hell did that even mean?

"You should consider yourself lucky, child. That technique is indeed quite impressive, however, I have my doubts you would be able to master it had you not become a woman." This only served to make Ryu even more confused.

"Huh?" She asked eloquently.

"Sigh...youngsters these days don't understand anything..." Cologne muttered, holding the bridge of her nose as she thought of a good way to explain this.

"Chi is generated in the lower abdomen, child, below the navel. All the chi in your body is contained there, and it is like a great reservoir that you tap for all its uses." Cologne began, bouncing up to Ryu and poking her just below the navel, for reference.

"Now, the male and female bodies are built very differently. This point happens to reside within the pelvis, and coincide with the uterus, and just as your hips are naturally wider to accommodate a child, so too is the tap on your Chi." She continued. Ryu immediately tried to forget all references made to her uterus and hips, not even allowing the image of pregnancy to enter her mind.

"A man's tap is thus far narrower than a woman's. To compensate for this reduced flow, a man learns to control his chi by releasing it at high pressure, expelling it from his reservoir explosively to obtain the amount he needs for his techniques. A woman, by contrast, releases her chi at a steady flow, having no need for the high pressure technique of a man." Cologne bounded away from Ryu at this point, briefly looking towards the horizon.

"The Jusenkyo pools of drowned man and woman are thus especially debilitating for martial artists. A man who becomes a woman calls on his chi, expecting a burst and receives a trickle. The result is a massive loss in power output, and a tendency to become exhausted far faster from calling far more chi than is necessary in an attempt to match the same explosive results as their male body. By contrast, a woman who becomes a man will often find herself unable to perform techniques at all, her power completely crippled by this reduced flow." Ryu blinked in surprise, blown away by the idea that her chi might flow differently than when she was a man. Could that...could that really be the answer to her weakness? She had to completely relearn how to draw on her chi?

"What does this have to do with the Yamasenken?" Ryu asked, still not sure what the old woman had meant by her first comment.

"That technique of yours is something quite unique, drawing on all the power you have and calling on it in one massive burst, supercharging your entire body. Such massive amounts of chi...I don't believe it would be possible to summon so much at once without the greater flow a woman's body offers, and yet, its completely impossible to do without an explosive release, something only a man would know how to do." Cologne explained, turning towards Ryu as realization finally dawned on the girl's face.

"So...that means..." Ryu looked down at her hands, having trouble comprehending this new information.

"As I said, you should count yourself lucky. Had you not become a woman, you never would have mastered that technique." Cologne repeated, watching the girl cope with this revelation for a few moments before moving on to a more pressing subject matter. "Now then, for the more important question: Who are you, and why is my son-in-law helping you hunt demons?"

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

It was lunch again at Kolkhoz High, which meant it was the perfect time to get out, stretch your legs, have a bite to eat, and watch the crazy people duke it out in the courtyard. This pastime was especially popular during winter, as it meant the Martial Skating club would be practicing, either on the frozen pool, or in the courtyard on roller blades.

"You look bored." Chrono said, glancing to his brother as he pulled his lunch out from his bag.

"I am bored. These guys are boring," Albert replied with a bite of his bread. Both he and his brother were eating lunch together in the cafeteria, looking out the windows towards the courtyard where several members of the Skating club were fighting.

"It's too bad Panties Girl doesn't go here. That would be far more interesting," He continued, taking another bite of his bread before proceeding to ignore the fight outside.

"How would that be more interesting?" Chrono asked, glaring at his brother.

"Well, if she came to this school, it would give you more attempts to fail at asking her out, which is totally more interesting than anything else this school has to offer." The younger brother stated, smiling wide before taking another bite of his lunch.

"I mean, I know the whole point of coming here was all the martial types around, but these fights are just totally lame. It's not nearly flashy enough. Would it kill them to throw an occasional fireball?" He went for his milk box next, taking a quick swig in-between thoughts.

"Probably?" Chrono stated, looking down at his wrapped piece of bread. "Fireballs tend to explode."

"Yeah, well, that's why they're awesome." Albert replied. The sudden sound of screaming reached their ears as both brothers looked up, alert and on edge. The entire cafeteria seemed to quiet all at once as the screams got louder just outside, with some kind of commotion in the hall.

"What the hell is that?" Albert asked, swallowing the last of his bread as he stood from his seat.

"Another fight?" Chrono suggested, his own meal forgotten as he stood as well, having a bad feeling about this.

"He...Help me!" A girl screamed, running into the room as a bizarre imp like creature bounded in after her. It was truly disgusting, being oddly ape like, but with only a short stump where its left arm should have been, as if it had been cut off. Everyone immediately stood from their seats and panicked, fleeing away from the weird monster as it tackled the girl to the ground, rubbing itself all over her body in a lewd manner. Her screams and struggles grew weaker until she barely moved, barely conscious, her energy clearly being stolen by the monster. What was worse was that it was apparently healing itself at the same time, its arm nearly grown back in the process.

"The hell?" Chrono grit his teeth, moving to attack the creature only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder. "Let go of me, Albert!"

"You know I can't do that! We're incognito, remember? What the hell do you think you're doing!" Albert said harshly, through clenched teeth. The monster ignored them, instead concentrating on the fleeing female students as it bounded towards another one to molest.

"We can't just let that thing go on a rampage!" Chrono insisted, turning on his brother with a look of betrayal.

"That's exactly what we have to do, and you know it! We ran away, Chrono! MIA. AWOL. Do you really think we can just take up monster hunting and nobody will notice? We pull out the pyrotechnics and we might as well send them a god damn invitation!" Albert shot back, pulling back on Chrono again as he tried to chase after the monster. It was now heading out into the courtyard, close on the tail of a pretty brunette.

"We came to Nerima because of the high number of Martial types here. They won't notice if we use our powers every once in awhile." Chrono insisted, pulling away from his little brother and moving towards the courtyard, drawing a small card from his uniform pocket.

"That only works if we keep a low profile! This, what you're about to do, releasing your fucking device? That's not a low profile! If they find us, they'll turn us into ermines, you dolt!" Albert shouted, chasing after him. It looked like the imp was fully recovered now, its formally amputated arm now completely regenerated, but that didn't stop it from attacking the female students.

"This was the reason we left, wasn't it? Because we weren't allowed to help in these situations. Because we couldn't stand just watching as innocents got hurt by the supernatural." Chrono replied with determination, now standing firmly, card held in front of his face, a bit of frost forming on his fingertips.

"Yeah, but-" Albert tried to argue, only to receive a quick glance from his brother. Everything he needed to know was in his brother's eyes in that instant, and he knew there would be no convincing him.

"Svalinn, Set-" Chrono began, clutching the card in his hand, but couldn't finish the command.

"Crescent Beam!" came a feminine cry, as a beam of energy smashed into the monster and hurled it off its most recent victim. Chrono and Albert both turned to see a strange blonde girl standing atop a nearby building, smirking down at the monster.

"What? That was a spell..." Chrono muttered, looking at the woman in surprise.

"A Magic type?" Albert gasped. "She can handle it, we're getting out of here, now!"

He didn't wait for an argument, instead grabbing his brother around the collar and dragging him away. The newcomer didn't notice this exchange at all, instead focusing on the small white cat at her feet.

"Okay, I shot it, are you happy now?" She asked, a bored look on her face. The thing barely looked like it was worth her time. It was, like, half her size.

"Of course not! You have to defeat it! It's your duty as a sailor senshi to uphold justice and -" The cat began, though the blonde rolled her eyes and quickly stopped paying attention.

"Yeah yeah yeah, I got it. I kick its ass, we go home." Venus said dismissively, hoping down from the roof and landing in the courtyard. In that instant Jiji pounced, hand spread with a look of glee on his face as he prepared to fondle the lovely mounds before him.

"Not a chance, runt." Venus' hands were already up, finger pointed straight as a beam of light slammed into Jiji in mid leap. He hit the ground and rebounded again, going for Venus' legs, only to have another beam drill into the back of his head as he got close, pushing him into the ground and halting his charge as the girl quickly got her distance.

"Jiji..." The youma grumbled, returning to his feet slower this time and bounding away, only to get shot down mid leap by yet another crescent beam, crumbling to the ground in pain.

"Boring...This is barely worth my time." Venus grumbled, watching lazily as the youma returned to his feet yet again.

"Huh, still kicking?" Venus muttered, rapidly losing interest in the monster. Only reason she agreed to this stupid monster hunting thing is because she assumed her impostors would show up at some point to kick its ass. She wasn't really keen on waiting around for them either, especially considering how boring fighting this Youma was.

"Maybe I should handicap myself...No Crescent Beam, or something." Venus mused, wondering if it'd be worth attempting. The little bugger WAS pretty fast, probably too fast for her to take hand to hand, it just turned out lasers were faster. Her spell made fighting it a joke.

"Oh well, guess I should just finish it off..." Venus sighed, discarding her idea of a handicap with a shrug. The youma looked at her warily, slinking to the side in a wide berth, looking ready to make a run for it at any moment as she just leveled her finger towards it.

"Time to say goodbye, ugly. Cresent-" Venus paused, spotting a streak of color and movement out of the corner of her eye and looked up. She grinned upon seeing the other girl, carefully adjusting her aim. "-Beam!"

Mercury didn't even register what happened. One minute she was being forcefully taken to a Youma by the mercury computer, the next she was being hurled backward, a beam of light smashing into her chest with explosive force. She landed hard, rolling back to her feet with a grunt and scanning the area for her attacker.

"What the hell!" Mercury shouted, spotting an orange colored senshi with smoke rising from her fingertips standing near the youma. The Youma looked confused for a moment, glancing between the two of them before bursting off in a high speed run. Venus completely ignored it, leaving Mercury to watch it flee before glancing back towards her new attacker.

"So you're one of them, eh? My impostors?" Venus asked, crossing the distance between the two of them.

"Impostor? What the hell are you on?" Mercury replied, returning to her feet. She didn't quite get what was going on. Ranma hadn't told her about any new recruits after Ryu, so who the hell was this blonde girl?

"Venus, stop this!" Venus turned slightly towards the voice as a small white cat ran up to her, looking between the two of them frantically, "You mustn't fight her! You're both on the same team!"

"Yeah yeah yeah, you gave me this stupid princess defender-y bullshit speech already. Heard it, don't care." Venus said flippantly, stepping over the cat and returning her attention to the blue senshi.

"So, which one are you supposed to be? Neptune? Uranus?" She asked, earning an even further confused look.

"Mercury..." Mercury replied, looking over to where the youma went. Damn thing was getting away and this girl didn't seem to care at all.

"Mercury? Mercury's brown! Whoever decided your color scheme is a moron." Venus complained, shaking her head in disgust.

"Uh huh. Okay, yeah, I'll just be going now." Mercury quickly headed off in the direction the Youma ran, only to quickly jump back as she noticed the flash of light out of the corner of her eye, narrowly avoiding another beam.

"Did I say you could leave?" Venus said, blinking as Mercury suddenly rushed her with a swift jab towards her face. She caught the blow only to find Mercury was still moving forward, leaping into a knee that took the blonde full in the face.

"No," Mercury replied, answering the question while landing in a ready stance, "I did."

"Heh...not bad," Venus spit some blood out, smirking a bit as she did so, "I'm gonna make you regret that."

"No, you won't." Mercury replied, unamused. Venus rushed forward as Mercury crossed her arms, leaping into a kick the other girl ducked under.

"Crescent Beam!" Venus shouted in mid jump, twisting around to blast Mercury in the back.

"Bubble Spray!" Mercury replied, grunting from the blast but unleashing her own spell anyway, filling the area with the thick mist. Venus landed and looked around in confusion, suddenly finding herself completely without a point of reference. She couldn't see anything but mist.

"Tch, what's wrong, can't fight me face to face? You have to attack from hiding?" Venus shouted into the mist, turning around a few times to try and catch a glimpse of her opponent, straining her ears for the slightest sound. She found herself waiting quite awhile, as the mist faded away to reveal an empty courtyard, save for the various students standing around to watch.

"...Or maybe you'll just run away. Damn." Venus grumbled, kicking the dirt. Looked like the blue one was smarter than she looked. "She must have gone after the youma. I'll show her not to ignore me!"

Ryoga watched from the crowd as Venus ran off, happy to have thrown her off by dropping her transformation. She winced slightly, rubbing her shoulder a bit to try to relieve the pain from getting shot in the back. Even with her magic resistance, that shot had hurt like hell.

"Who the hell is she, anyway?" Ryoga headed out of the school grounds, her mercury computer already directing her towards the youma. The blonde had magic that packed way more of a punch than anything she had fought so far, and the speed at which she could fire it was unreasonable, much faster than the Shishi Hokodan. Ryoga didn't really want to admit it, but without any offensive magic of her own, her chances against the blonde weren't that great.

"Damn it, I don't really have a choice here." Ryoga muttered, pulling the computer out of her pocket and opening the communication program. She needed reinforcements.

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

Ranma cursed under his breath as he ran through the streets of Nerima, looking for any clue to where the youma had gone. He had been searching for at least an hour, looking every which way he could, desperate for some sign of the monster, straining his ears to hear the sound of a girl screaming, but nothing. He had up and disappeared. Now, almost out of breath, sweat dripping down his face as he stood on the side of the road, he couldn't help but feel his frustration build.

"Damn it! Where the hell did that little freak get off to?" Ranma swore, standing back up straight and taking a moment to catch his breath. He was about to run off again when he heard a familiar beeping sound from his pocket, stopping for a moment to pull out the small communicator Luna had given him. It came to life in an instant, a picture of a female Ryoga appearing on the screen.

"I found some kind of crazy youma attacking kids at a high school!" Ranma grinned at Ryoga's announcement, the chance for catharsis presenting itself. He forgot Ryoga's stupid little computer thing tracked youma. This was perfect.

"Where are you?" Ryu's picture appeared on the screen as she asked the question. Ranma rolled his eyes. Like asking Ryoga that question would do any good. He said a high school, so would Happosai have gone back to Furinkan?

"There's more than that. Some crazy blonde girl dressed like one of us attacked me. I found her when I found the youma." Ryoga added, her picture appearing again. Ryoga's picture disappeared just as quickly, replaced by Luna.

"An evil Senshi! Preposterous!" She insisted. Oh hey, apparently Luna kept a communicator for herself. Ranma didn't even realize that.

"The white cat called her Venus." Ryoga said as her picture again. A shiver ran up Ranma's spine at that dreadful word. A talking c...c...cat? That was absurd! He must have mistakenly seen a squirrel.

"Eh? That sounds like Artemis...but why would Venus be evil? Have the Dark Kingdom somehow..." Luna muttered as her picture appeared again, before the image shifted back to Ryoga.

"Yeah, you can figure that out later. All I know is she wants to kick our asses for some reason, and knows we're after the youma. She'll intercept us when we try to take it out for sure." Ryoga said, before her image was replaced by Ryu again.

"How the hell are we supposed to come help you if we don't know where you are, genius?" Ryu demanded. The image changed to Ryoga again, looking annoyed.

"It's going towards another school! Look!" Ryoga shouted, before the image changed and moved, Ryoga's face being replaced by a school in the distance. Ranma immediately recognized it.

"Damn it, that's St. Hebereke! It's an all girl's school!" Ranma shouted, jumping to the nearest rooftop and using that as a stepping stone to reach the top of a nearby phone pole, scanning the horizon for the school.

"An all girl's school? Ah, hell." That was Ryu's voice, but Ranma wasn't paying attention to the communicator anymore, still on the lookout.

"What does that matter?" Ryoga's voice asked, just as Ranma spotted his destination.

"The youma drains the life out of girls, and gets stronger in the process. Where the hell is this school?" Ryu's voice again, but Ranma just slipped the communicator into his pocket and dashed off at top speed, barely allowing himself to touch a rooftop before leaping off again as fast as his legs could carry him.

Ryu looked up suddenly, spotting Ranma sail overhead just as she finished her question. Looks like they were closer together than she realized.

"Nevermind, I'll just follow Ranma! We're on our way, Blue, so hold those two off as long as you can!" She said, jumping to the rooftops as well.

"Right!" was Ryoga's reply, before she too pocketed the communicator.

Konatsu closed her communicator and stashed it away, looking around pensively. She sat in the empty ucchan's for a moment, lost in thought as she looked down at her transformation pen, running one finger over it nervously.

"What should I do?" She asked herself. Unfortunately, she didn't have an answer.

(-)(-)(-)(-)

It was a fine afternoon at St. Hebereke's school for girls, as it always was. For Kodachi Kuno, star gymnast of the school, it was just as boring as it usually was for her. The teacher continued to droll about mathematics or literature, or whatever she was teaching. It was so simple, and she didn't feel a lady of her stature needed to know the subject very well. Instead she focused her attention on the sword shaped pendant she flipped in her hand. Despite being made of metal, and in her possession since she was very young, there was not a scratch on it, and it still shined like it had when she first received it.

Her thoughts drifted back to when she had gotten the pendant as she continued to flip it between her fingers, enjoying the touch of the cool metal chain that was attached to it against her hand. Her dearest mother had given it to her before she had left the mansion one day, and she had never returned. Despite her father's attempts at searching for her, she was never found, alive or dead.

The pleasant and familiar jingle of the period bell brought her back from her reminiscing, and she looked up to see her teacher gather her notes together. Sighing, the younger Kuno sibling propped her elbow on her desk and rested her head in her palm, definitely still bored.

"Hey Kodachi?" The girl to her right attempted to get her attention. Kodachi just turned her head to acknowledge her.

"Have you heard the latest news on the Sailor Scouts?" The girl asked. Kodachi's eyebrow twitched slightly as she raised her head of her arm.

"You mean that group of scantily clad vigilantes who disgrace themselves on a regular bases and set a bad example for girls everywhere? Yes, I know of them." She responded. Of course she had heard of them. They were the gossip of the entire district. She would have to live under a rock to have not heard of them.

"That...That's not true! They're amazing and you know it!" The girl countered. "They fight monsters and-"

"Run around in harlot's clothes?" Kodachi finished for her. The girl just stopped for a moment, unsure of how to respond to that at first.

"Is it really any different from running around in a leotard?" The girl shot back. Before Kodachi could reply, a loud scream from the hall caused everyone to stop, looking up in confusion. The teacher paused as she was about to close her bag, standing up straight and moving slowly towards the door.

More screams came this time, sounding like an entire classroom worth of girls just down the hall, as everyone began to look around nervously and mutter amongst themselves.

"What is that?" "Did something happen?" "Is something going on?"

"Please stay calm, class. I'll see what the commotion is about." The teacher quickly spoke up, trying to pacify the worried students as she headed out into the hall. The girls all sat in tense silence for a moment when a blood curling scream came from the hall, followed by even more screaming. It sounded like all the other classrooms were evacuating now, as a high pitched, disturbing cackle echoed through the halls.

Kodachi frowned, tensing up as she felt the eyes of her entire classroom fall on her. She was the strongest fighter in the school, and whatever was going on, it would be her duty to put an end to it. She clenched her pendant tightly for a moment before releasing it, reaching into her bag to retrieve her ribbon and two small clubs, which she tucked into the back of her skirt.

"Kodachi..." she heard her name muttered by a few members of her class room, tears in their eyes and fear clear on their faces. She didn't respond, however, wordlessly standing from her desk and walking towards the door, gripping her ribbon tightly.

"Jijijiji!" Kodachi hardened her gaze at the sound carrying up the hall, looking around at the carnage. The bodies of her fellow students littered the hallway, in varying states of undress and completely unresponsive. What kind of monster could have done a thing like this?

"Jiji!" Kodachi quickly looked up, spotting a small imp at the end of the hall staring right at her, literally glowing with power that seemed to come off it in waves.

"You should probably start running, girl. This thing gets stronger by feeling up women." Kodachi glanced over at the voice, seeing a girl dressed as a sailor senshi, to her great surprise.

"Why do you allow this beast to roam freely through these hallowed halls? Is it not your duty to slay such monsters?" Kodachi demanded, not breaking eye contact with the small monster. It just stood there, giggling to itself in that horrible voice, staring at her with its disgusting eyes. A chill ran up her spine. It felt like it was undressing her with those eyes.

"Hey, my impostors are the monster hunters, not me." Venus replied, glancing down at the imp. It was a good thing she had thoroughly kicked its ass earlier, as it was now too wary of her to strike. She probably shouldn't have let it get into this girl's school, though. She doubted she could drop it herself at this point.

"Seriously though," Venus continued, leaning against the wall with crossed arms, "You should be running."

But it was too late. As if cued, Jiji struck, crossing the hall at blinding speed and leaping towards Kodachi's bosom with both hands held out. Kodachi reacted as quickly as she could, taking one of her batons and throwing it at the horrifying monster. Unfortunately, it was batted away almost instantly, not even slowing the imp down. She tried to move her ribbon, but Jiji was already on top of her, putting his hands in places no one had dared touch her before. Disgust and revilement filled her, and though she was boiling with rage and indignation, she felt incredibly exhausted for some reason, barely able to lift her arms.

Through willpower and anger alone was she able to move her ribbon, twirling it so it wrapped around the creature's body. She swung her arm as hard as she could to the side, successfully ripping the imp off of her body and away from her breasts. She fell to the ground, gasping for breath. It was like she could finally breath again. Unfortunately she was still far to tired to move anymore, her strength leaving her., She probably wouldn't be able to fight the foul beast off anymore. Looking over, she could see that the red imp was having a bit of trouble getting untangled from the ribbon, but it wouldn't be long before it was once again free.

Lightning flashed through the hall towards Jiji, who promptly attempted to flee. Kodachi didn't know where this attack had come from, but she wasn't about to let the vermin escape it, pulling back on her ribbon with what little strength she had remaining. Still tangled, the imp stopped mid jump, failing to clear the blast as it took the explosive blast of electricity in full force. It screamed out in pain as Kodachi distinctly heard the sound of some kind of chanting, a discus of light shooting up the hall and striking the imp before it even touched the ground. It bounced once before a beam of light smashed into it from the other side, stunning it once again.

At that moment, the hall suddenly filled with mist. Kodachi shivered in the cold, straining her eyes to see through the strange fog. She could hear another litany of chants and explosions, as more spells were fired into the imp, but she could not see the attacks, nor the creature they were targeting.

"Shishi Hokodan!" A girlish voice growled out, the hall clearing of mist as a solid wave of air seemed to blast through it, passing over Kodachi's head harmlessly and continuing on to the end of the hall before reaching the fall wall with an immense boom. She returned to her knees, looking over her shoulder to see that the imp was now firmly implanted in a crater on the far wall, twitching periodically.

"Such power..." She muttered, glancing back to see the three girls she knew to be Sailor Senshi standing at the other side of the hall in awe.

"Only three of you? Artemis said there'd be four." Venus muttered, readjusting her aim, "Oh well. Crescent Beam!"

"Eh?" Moon managed before the beam of energy struck her in the chest, throwing her off her feet as Mercury and Jupiter both took this as a sign to rush the orange senshi at full speed.

"What the hell! You were _just_ helping us a second ago!" Moon exclaimed, standing up. Jupiter came in with a kick to the head while Mercury tried for a right hook to the face, both of which were casually avoided. The two senshi recovered, moving back for another attack, only to have the blonde once again dance between them, untouched by their flurry of blows. The two shared a brief look, and in that instant a strategy formed. Jupiter went high as Mercury went low, each attack they threw was avoided, but flowed seamlessly into the other's assault. Soon Venus had no choice but to start blocking as the attacks tightened, coming at her from too many angles too quickly.

"Crescent Beam!" Jupiter took a breath but got no air, the wind completely knocked out of her from the point blank blast to the diaphragm. She was hurled back, passing over Moon as she rushed in to join the brawl, a second beam taking Mercury in the abdomen just as the redhead smashed into the blonde with an axe kick that she caught in one open hand, a point of light gathering on the finger of her open hand.

"Crescent Beam!" Moon was barely able to twist just before the blast fired, narrowly missing her as she continued her twisting motion to bring up her other leg and smash Venus across the face with her boot. She released moon's foot at that, allowing the girl to land and come back with a punch, only to be caught in the sternum by Venus's heel and thrown down the hall.

"Damn it!" Moon cursed, rolling back to her feet as she held her chest in pain. All four of them stood motionlessly for a moment, Venus standing in a ready stance as she kept all three of her opponents in view, sizing them up.

"No charge up, super fast...She can even use it at point blank..." Jupiter muttered, watching the blonde warily. That spell was potent. Not as powerful as her own lightning, but the speed more than made up for it. She wasn't even confident she could cast without the blonde blasting her before she could finish.

"Her spell isn't the only thing that's fast. She took us both without breaking a sweat." Mercury added, also glaring at the blonde. What really annoyed her in this situation was how useless her own spell was. The blonde was a senshi, like them. If she made it thick enough to blind her, both her allies would be blind as well. It'd be counter productive to even try.

"Jeez, you really are all impostors. Your powers are pathetic." Venus announced in a bored tone, making an exaggerated yawn. All three moved in that instant, closing the distance in a flash and striking as one. A kick to the head, another to the legs, a punch to the chest. They clashed with the sound of bone hitting bone, all three senshi blinking in shock. Jupiter's leg had stopped against her forearm, Mercury's punch caught in her free hand, and a single leg risen to stop Moon's sweep with her shin.

"Yawn." Venus said with a smirk, spinning as all three of her opponents tried to recover from their attacks in vain. Her leg cut through Moon's defense to take her across the chest, before continuing around to hit Jupiter in the chin and lashing out with a punch to Mercury's shoulder in the same motion. It was over in a flash, all three other senshi hurled back as Venus completed her spin, replanting her leg.

"Seriously, haven't you bitches figured out how to empower yourselves yet? I thought this would be a lot more fun than this." Venus continued, her stance visibly relaxing in apparent boredom as the other senshi painfully pulled themselves to their feet.

Kodachi watched the continuing fight between the two groups of senshi, her annoyance at the Sailor Senshi growing more and more. Weren't they supposed to be protecting humanity from monsters like the one they were leaving alone? The horrible monster that had touched her in places that she reserved for one person? It was clear that the Senshi were far too busy with their stupid fight that they couldn't fulfill their small purpose, so it looked like she was going to have to deal with the issue

Shakily she stood up, tightening her grip on the handle to her ribbon, and saw that the impish monster was still tangled in it. Good. A small smirk found its way onto her face, and with the rest of her strength she began to pull on the ribbon again. She spun around, spinning the monster around with her, until she made a one more movement with her arm. The ribbon that was tightly wrapped around the monster loosened, and the momentum carried the perverted creature out the window at the end of the hall. Now the beast was gone, and no longer her problem.

"Okay, you're all starting to bore me." Venus said simply, catching a punch from moon and hurling her over her shoulder into the wall, which barely served to slow her down as she passed right through it and into the classroom beyond. Mercury came at her with a kick that forced her back through the hole as well, dodging around her blows while returning with her own, peppering Mercury across the sides and mid section with blows that were really beginning to tell on the girl.

"Come on! Is this the best you can-" Venus began, pausing as Mercury suddenly dove aside, revealing Jupiter standing in the hole with lightning dancing on her fingertips. "-do?"

"Supreme Thunder!" Jupiter shouted, throwing her spell forward. The blonde barely had time to widen her eyes in surprise before she was blasted clear out the opposite wall, screaming in pain from the electricity ripping through her body as she toppled end over end towards the ground below.

"F...Fuck..." Venus coughed out, landing in a crouch and throwing her head back up at the sound of electricity reached her ears again.

"Supreme Thunder!" Venus swore again and jumped back, the blast of lightning tearing a hole into the spot she was previously standing as Moon and Mercury both leapt from the building towards the ground below.

"See, this is more like it!" Venus was smirking now, light collecting on her finger tips as she prepared another spell.

"Crescent Beams!" Moon and Mercury were both shot out of the sky before they even landed, a third beam nearly taking Jupiter's head off as she dodged backwards, forced to stop her spell in the process.

"Still disappointing, though." Venus was beginning to wonder why she was even bothering, watching Moon and Mercury land hard and struggle back to their feet.

"Stupid bitch...I'm gonna kick your ass..." Moon muttered, her legs wavering under her as she collapsed back to her knees. Her entire body was screaming in pain by this point, having taken far too many direct hits from that damn spell for her liking, but she wasn't about to let that stop her. She forced herself back to her feet, standing firm, eyes locked on the blonde.

"Yeah...I'm just not feeling it anymore." Who promptly ignored her and started to walk away. Moon's eyebrow twitched, biting her lip and clenching her fists.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" She screamed, her frustration peaking at this point. She'd gotten her ass kicked far too many times for one day, she refused to lose yet another fight!

"This is boring. Let me know when you idiots actually figure out how to use your powers. I'm going home." Venus lept away at that point, deciding she should probably go pick up Artemis from that trashcan she dropped him in. He'd be bitching at her for weeks for that one, she was sure.

Moon just stood where she was, visibly shaking with rage before screaming and putting her fist through the building wall beside her. Mercury just blinked at her as she stormed off, not saying a word.

"Well this was a huge waste of time." Mercury muttered, looking around briefly before dropping her transformation. Jupiter emerged from the building a few moments later, seeing the absence of Moon and Venus before dropping her own transformation.

"They're gone?" Ryu muttered, confused. She had decided to take the long way down to avoid getting shot out of the air, and the fight was apparently over by the time she got here.

"Venus got bored and left. Ranma got pissed and stormed off." Ryoga summarized with a shrug. She really didn't know what to make of this crazy new senshi, she just hoped the blonde stopped interfering with their youma fighting.

"Youma got away, too. It was already gone when I made my way down." Ryu added. Ryoga frowned at that, but didn't say anything. Both of them just stood there at that point, neither really knowing what to say or what to do. They realized they never really talked to eachother, outside of senshi business.

"You still owe me a date, you know." Ryu suddenly said, much to Ryoga's surprise.

"Um. Okay?" Ryoga muttered. Ryu nodded at her and then headed off, figuring she might as well find Ranma. Ryoga just kept standing there, sighing for a moment as he tried to recall a time when her life didn't suck. She drew a blank.

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

Today was easily in the top ten worst days of Ranma's life. Now, the first seven of those were strictly reserved for things that happened under the age of 10, with the exception of the day he went to Jusenkyo being third place, but oh man, today was easily a shoe in for ninth. The day he got kissed by Mikado had to be bumped down to tenth, and that day he spent trying to escape from Shampoo when she was armed with a pitchfork had officially been knocked clean off the list by the stupidly frustrating day he was having now.

"Akane's still in the hospital, jackasses on the news are bad mouthing her, they've been talking about the senshi all day, I got my ass kicked four damn times, and shown up by Kuno in the process. Not to mention Ryu randomly decided to start attending Furinkan, and I'm sure Ucchan is gonna bite my head off about that crap later. And worst of all, the day's not even over yet! What's next? Am I gonna get locked again? Is that where this is going?" Ranma ranted to herself, still fuming as she strolled down the street at a steady clip. She didn't have anywhere to go, but she was too angry to walk slowly, dodging around other pedestrians as they gladly gave her a wide birth.

"...some sort of monster, according to eye witness reports. We have also received various reports that the Sailor Senshi, the rumored female vigilante group, were on the scene of these attacks. We have here Representative Yamiuchi in the studio with us to give his take on these reports. Representative, you were on television this morning speaking out against the Local Combatants Act. Have these Sailor Senshi affected your outlook at all?"

"Reckless teenage girls taking the law into their own hands represents everything that is wrong with our current system. How can we trust our safety to children? We must push for reform!"

"But did you not yourself state that local law enforcement are powerless before Combatants? Does that not make the self moderation policies necessary?"

"Absolutely not, as those policies involve no form of oversight. There is no attempt to properly train these Combatants, to implement any kind of control over their actions. Instead, the Diet has swept them under the carpet, hoping to look the other way and pretend they don't exist."

Ranma turned slowly towards the TV screens that were in the display windows of the electronics store she was passing, eye twitching. Great, just life throwing another wrench into the machine that was her already bad day. She sighed and turned away, starting to walk again. This whole 'being on the news' thing was really getting annoying.

"We seem to have some breaking news. A video of a fight between the Senshi and this supposed monster earlier this afternoon has surfaced on the Internet, recorded by a student who was on the scene."

"What." Ranma stopped in her tracks, turned back around, and quickly moved to the front of the group of people gathering around the storefront, getting a front row look as the video came up on screen. The redhead paled, watching as the video came up. It was a blank blue at first, but apparently it had begun recording in the middle of Mercury's mist, as it quickly cleared with a blast Ranma recognized as the shishi hokodan. The youma flew right over the camera and smashed into the far wall, and that's when Venus attacked.

"Oh god..." Ranma muttered, feeling like she was watching a train wreck in progress. How the hell did they miss the girl on the ground with the freakin' camcorder?

"Oh my. There appears to have been some kind of in-fighting amongst these so-called 'Sailor Senshi.' What do you have to say about this, Representative?"

"This is exactly the kind of thing I mean! No organization, no rules. These girls fight each other just as easily as they fight the monsters that terrorize my district, and they caused more damage to public property than the monster did! All Combatants, and these Senshi especially, are a menace to society!"

Ranma's fist pierced the glass and the television behind it with equal ease as everyone around her quickly backed up and ran away. She let out a breath as she slowly extracted her fist from the destroyed TV, listening to the glass cracking as the rest of the window finally shattered and fell away.

"If I ever got my hands on that guy..." Ranma muttered, flexing her hand a few times. She looked up then, noticing the store owner looking at her in horror from his spot behind the counter. It was probably a good idea to leave, now.

(-)(-)(-)(-)

"My My..." Zoicite smirked as he watched the human broadcast, a plot starting to come together in his mind.

"So, the human government was turning against the Sailor Senshi, were they?" He muttered, waving his hand to dismiss the viewing circle he had been using. "I can use this to my advantage."

With that, he couldn't help but laugh. Oh yes, his plan was flawless. Soon, he'd do away with these senshi once and for all!

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

Tuxedo Mask made one last jump down into an empty alleyway from the roof top, looking up to make sure he wasn't followed. After a minute or so of waiting, a wide smirk spread across his face and he began to laugh victoriously. He reached a hand into his cape, slowly and carefully pulling out a indigo colored crystal so he could look at it again.

He pulled the hard ceramic mask off his face to get a better look at the crystal, mesmerized by the way the light looked through its surface. Finally, he got his hands on one. He had a Rainbow Crystal. He stumbled suddenly, grabbing his head and bracing himself against the wall as the crystal fell from his hands to land harmlessly on the floor. His whole body shook for a moment, a tremor of pain passing through him.

"Not now...I finally have one..." He muttered, collapsing to his knees. He looked down at the mask he had taken off, watching it fade away into rose petals as the tux around his body did the same.

"Ahhh!" With a final scream, his transformation vanished into petals and leaving him in his blouse, slacks and apron. He collapsed completely, laying motionlessly in the alley for a moment before stirring with a groan.

"What...happen?" Shampoo muttered, shakily getting to his feet with one hell of a headache. It's then that he realized that he had randomly become male again, much to his great displeasure.

"Why this keep happening?" Shampoo groaned, his eyes catching on an odd crystal lying in the alleyway with him. He had no idea what it was, but...something about it...He couldn't help but pick it up, holding it protectively. Something told him he needed to keep it, watch over it, and find others like it. He had no idea why, though.

"I need hot water." Shampoo decided, pocketing the crystal and venturing out of the alleyway in search of the one thing he knew would fix his current predicament.

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

Ryoga's mind and body were wandering with equal ease, albeit in opposite directions. While he walked in a random direction, not really knowing or caring where his feet were taking him, his thoughts drifted to Ryu's parting words, and the date he had foolishly agreed to when he tricked Ryu into becoming Jupiter.

He actually flinched a bit at that, remembering that it was, in fact, his words that were responsible for Ryu being stuck as a woman. He knew intellectually that it wasn't his fault, of course. Ryu was chosen just like the rest of them, and through some circumstance or another, she was going to end up a girl in a fuku. But still, he felt guilty for being the one who actually did the pushing over that metaphorical cliff, and was thus rather surprised Ryu intended him to honor that agreement.

"A date? I mean, a real date?" Ryoga muttered to himself in disbelief. He had thought Ryu was pretty miserable being a girl, unlike Konatsu, so why would she actually ask him out? It never actually occurred to Ryoga that Ryu might intend for him to be a girl on said date, hence his thought processes on what this date would entail were just as misguided as the rest of him.

"I mean, I suppose Ryu is pretty attractive, but she used to be a guy! That's just weird..." Ryoga continued to talk to himself, turning down a random street as he continued to walk without paying any attention to where he was going.

"But still...a date...I haven't been on a real date since-" Ryoga stopped in his tracks, his train of thought totally derailed as he paused mid step. Akari. He hadn't been on a real date since the last time he went out with Akari.

"AAAH! I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT AKARI!" He screamed, grabbing his head in horror. He had been on his way to a date with her when all this Sailor Mercury crap started! How long ago was that, a month? Two? He never even showed up! She must be worried sick. He quickly pulled out the Mercury Computer, fully intending to punch in Akari's address when he saw the mapping system was already running. In fact, it said he had arrived at his destination.

Ryoga looked up, seeing that he was in the park just as Jiji descended from a nearby building and landed in the grass. He really was out of it, he totally forgot he had been tracking a youma all day.

Ryoga quickly ducked behind a tree as the youma seemed to look around for something. Had it spotted him? He wasn't sure, but the short imp was definitely sniffing at the air, as if tracking a scent. Ryoga's transformation pen was in hand, however he hesitated, wondering if he should even bother to transform. He had no offensive magic as Mercury, and this stupid monster got stronger from groping women.

Before Ryoga could make a decision, another figure appeared in a swirl of flower petals, making his decision for him.

"Another one of those generals?" He muttered to himself, kneeling behind the tree to stay hidden. Taking a general on solo was not an experience he wanted to repeat, especially with a youma like that playing backup.

"Well done, Jiji. You've performed spectacularly. Come, I need you to lead a group of my Youma in a full assault on this pitiful city. We'll see how well the Senshi can defend against that." Zoicite began to laugh maniacally as he summoned a swirl of flower petals, which quickly enveloped both him and the youma. In an instant, both were gone, leaving Ryoga alone in the park.

"Teleportation?" Ryoga muttered, looking down at the mercury computer. The words 'Target Lost' were prominently displayed on the screen, as well as a picture of a blue haired woman in a lab coat looking around in confusion.

"Damn. They're planning something big. Akari will have to wait." Ryoga said to himself, entering the Tendo Dojo into the Mercury Computer and heading off at full speed.

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

"You sure this is it?" Jupiter asked, standing on the rooftop and looking out over the horizon on the city. She didn't like the sound of an all out attack, especially one in the middle of downtown Tokyo like this. Mercury just looked up from her computer for a moment to glance at the taller senshi before looking back down at the screen.

"The computer is picking up an energy spike here. Whatever's coming is coming soon, and it's going to appear down on the street below us." Mercury replied, shutting the computer and moving towards the edge of the building with Jupiter. She briefly glanced back at Moon, who was pacing back and forth with a deep frown on her face.

"Where the hell is Konatsu?" Moon growled, not looking up at either of the other two. Her entire body was tense with stress, a vein bulging slightly on her brow. Moon was still pissed from what happened earlier in the day, and was looking forward to beating the tar out of some youma to work out her frustrations.

"Haven't seen her since the explosion at Furinkan." Mercury replied, a slight beeping sound from her computer notifying her of another spike. "And we don't have time to wait for her, either."

A swirling energy began to form in the street below them, steadily building in force as the wind began to swirl around it. Pedestrians took notice and stopped to watch for a moment before their survival instincts finally kicked in and they started to flee.

"Ready?" Mercury asked, a sphere of magic appearing in front of her crossed arms as the portal fully formed.

"Whenever you are." Jupiter replied, lightning crackling across her fingertips just as Youma began to pool out from the newly opened gate.

"Now! Bubble Spray!"

"Supreme Thunder!"

The youma barely cleared the portal before a thick mist built up in the street, followed by an electrical current that seemed to arc across the water vapor in the air and shock the whole lot of them. A single figure bounded clear out of the mist towards the rooftop, cackling like a wild monkey as it reached out towards the two Senshi, only to have its leap intercepted by a boot to the face from the third.

"You're mine, you little bastard!" Moon growled out, spiking Jiji towards the street with a leaping heel kick. The mist was cleared and the first wave of youma were already turning into dust from the combined assault of Mercury and Jupiter, but there was still more pooling out from the portal as the two senshi in question leapt down into the street.

"Where are they going?" Mercury muttered, noticing that the youma didn't seem too concerned with overwhelming them like they had anticipated. Instead, the ones still standing were making a beeline for one of the nearby office buildings. Neither one could see Moon or Jiji anymore, the two having disappeared in the confusion of the first wave.

"Come on, we have to stop them from getting into that building!" Jupiter insisted, lightning crackling on her hands again as she unleashed her spell into the retreating waves of youma. Their progress was temporarily halted as they all scrambled away from the blast, only to find both Mercury and Jupiter now standing between them and their destination.

"Can we catch them all in the mist again?" Jupiter asked, seeing the portal still standing open as the giant mass of youma in front of them got bigger and bigger.

"Not unless you wanna electrocute both of us in the process." Mercury replied, readying herself against the horde. She tried to count them but quickly gave up, as they continued pouring out of the portal.

"This doesn't make any sense." Mercury muttered, looking over the gathered forces. There had to be a hundred of them already, rapidly filling the entire street. "If they had such a disposable force, they'd have been sending armies at us this entire time. So what could possibly be in this building worth losing over a hundred youma for?"

"Whatever it is, we can't let them get it." Jupiter replied, just as the portal finally closed. In that instant, the horde rushed forward, fully intending to overwhelm them by sheer numbers alone.

"Supreme Thunder!"

"Shishi Hokodan!"

Not like either of them were gonna fall for that. The youma before them were instantly obliterated by the massive blasts of power, however the holes they open were just as quickly filled by the rest of the horde. Jupiter and Mercury were quickly lost in the masses, blocking and evading strikes from every direction and returning them in full, every blow reducing a youma to ash. Still, they were forced back, smashing up against the hardened glass windows that lined the lobby of the building these youma were trying to break into. The door was locked, which was lucky. The windows were apparently bulletproof, which was luckier. As it was, Youma were slamming into the building at high speed, badly cracking the lobby windows but failing to breach the building. More were scaling the building itself, digging their claws in and trying their luck with the windows higher up, only to be sniped off the walls by Mercury and Jupiter with the thrown bodies of their allies.

"Sai Dai Kyu Shishi Hokodan!" Mercury roared, throwing youma off herself as she summoned a massive pillar of energy. The blast went off like a small bomb, those caught directly under it instantly disintegrated as even more were sent hurtling away by the force of impact. This gave Mercury a temporary respite at the bottom of her smoking crater, however her enemies now had the high ground, and were flowing in at her to fill the hole she left.

"No wonder they've never sent an army before," Jupiter shoved her arm clean through a youma's torso, reducing it to ash in a single blow as she sliced another one in half with a roundhouse kick. "These things are ridiculously fragile."

"Bakusai Tenketsu!" Mercury cried out, another explosion rocking the street as her crater got deeper and another large mass of their enemy's numbers were obliterated, "You're right, this is too easy."

"Kijin-Gun Dai Ranbu!" A flurry of vacuum blades tore through the remaining forces as Jupiter spun around in a tight and chaotic dance, unleashing her strikes at random into the mob around her. She didn't even need to use the aura against these enemies, her ordinary vacuum blades more than enough to tear them apart as she halted her spin and allowed the remaining youma to rush forward to fill in for their slain allies. Their numbers were dwindling now, only a few dozen remaining as Mercury and Jupiter just tore through them with their bare hands.

The sound of glass shattering drew their attention briefly upward, watching a small figure fly out the window near the top floor and sail out over the horizon. That looked like Happosai. When did Ranma and the imp get inside?

"Die!" Jupiter shouted, smashing the head of the last youma with a downward strike that reduced it to a pile of ash. She stopped then, slowly catching her breath as she looked up to examine the devastation. The street was filled with ashes that were slowly blowing away in the wind, leaving behind a battlefield that had seen many better days. The front of the building was in ruin, and the street outside looked like it had been through a warzone, pockmarked with deep craters and large gashes created by their techniques. It was then that they noticed the audience that had formed, people far down the street and in the nearby buildings looking on with amazement at what they just saw.

"You get the feeling this was just a distraction?" Mercury muttered, looking around nervously. The sound of sirens was building in the distance as a few flashes of cameras appeared in the crowd.

"We should get out of here." Jupiter replied, and both promptly took to the nearby rooftops and dashed away at high speed. Once they were sure they had gotten far enough away, however, they dropped their transformations and doubled back.

"Where the hell is Ranma?" Ryoga muttered, landing on the rooftop they started on as she walked to the edge and looked down. The building was now surrounded by cop cars, with the small crowd from before now significantly larger. It looked like everyone within several blocks were gathering around.

"Ranma and the imp must have gotten into the building while we were fighting that horde. I saw him kick that old man out the window mid-fight." Ryu replied, standing beside Ryoga as the two watched events unfold.

"So if Ranma already defeated the youma, what's taking him so long to-" Ryoga stopped mid question, staring down at the building in shock as the cops came back out, "The hell?"

Cameras flashed in the crowd as Sailor Moon was lead away from the building in cuffs, looking fairly disoriented as she was pushed into the back of a police car. Ryoga and Ryu just stared, not really comprehending what they were seeing as the car drove off.

"Did...Did Ranma just get arrested? What the hell happened in there?" Ryoga muttered in confusion. It was then that the ambulance showed up. The two could only stare in growing dread as the paramedics rushed into the building, only to emerge about 10 minutes later with a bodybag.

"That's not good." Ryu sighed, shaking her head. She couldn't believe their enemies were this clever. It was a strategy they were completely unexpecting, and something they were unprepared to deal with, "I think Ranma just got arrested for murder."

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

To Be Continued...

(Author's Notes)

What a twist! Here's hoping I can deliver on the next chapter in a timely fashion, otherwise this one it just gonna eat at you for a long ass time. Don't forget what I said at the top! You can do your part to ensure the next chapter happens soon.

Next time: With Ranma on trial for murder, the rest of the Senshi have no means of stopping the last of the Seven Youma. And if that wasn't bad enough, Kunzite's deal with Saffron reaches its conclusion. Do the Senshi stand a chance against the combined forces of The Dark Kingdom and the Phoenix People? Find out next time on Bishonen Senshi Sailor Moon: Turnabout Phoenix.

Ryo-Wolf


End file.
